French Make Move to Build Naval Base in Abu Dhabi

Graphic source: BBC

I don't know if the French are strong enough but they are about to make a serious move into the Gulf.

I've maintained here that both Russia, India, and probably China should step up to the plate but little France I haven't really considered.

Nonetheless, President Nicolas Sarkozy has not only done France's traditional policy of selling arms to Gulf states but he has done one better by signing a deal with Abu Dhabi for a permanent French naval base.

Will France become more of a target if it is interjected into the complex politics of the Gulf? Probably.

President Sarkozy appears willing to accept that this exposes France to the risks involved in such a sensitive area. There was the recent confrontation between Iranian speedboats and US naval ships recently. In addition, there is a dispute between Abu Dhabi and Iran over three small islands in the Strait of Hormuz.

Even the timing is interesting, coming as it does with a major visit to the region by President Bush, during which he has criticized Iran.

France is already playing an active role in trying to increase sanctions on Iran over its refusal to accept Security Council demands for a halt to uranium enrichment.

I think its a good move and is another indication that the U.S. can stand down as much as possible. I say let the French and others take up some slack and catch some of the flack that the U.S. ordinarily takes.

France is also constructing two nuclear power reactors for Abu Dhabi.

All this interest in nuclear power could indicate a capacity for nuclear weapons at some stage.

France has already sold Mirage jet fighters and AMX-30 tanks to the Emirate and has had a defence agreement with it (mainly dealing with the support of arms contracts) since 1995.

The British never fared well in the Lower Gulf and this allowed the French to make their move which they took full advantage of.

How German Engineering Thwarts Suicide Bombing

It is a sign of the times when a car advertisement incorporates suicide bombing as its motif.

Islamic Terrorists Infilitrating Europe

This is a post about a French journalist who as a refugee from his native Algeria is opposing Islamic terrorists who are infiltrating Europe.

Two Good Quotes

"History does not entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower

"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."

George Orwell

Insurgents Fight Now for the Coalition

Reports from Al Anbar Province indicate how former insurgents are fighting al-Qaeda and joining Coalition efforts to stabilize Iraq.

Philadelphia Freedom (Its in the water)

With the swearing in of a new Mayor, Philadelphia's belated water project reaches its final phase with new off-the-shelf billing software from Prophecy International. The software finished a month ahead of schedule and at 25% less than budgeted. The project that I mentioned before was actually completed as it was supposed to be, under the previous Mayor, John Street.

Operation Phantom Phoenix Deadly for al Qaeda

Graphic source: The Long War Journal

Around a year ago the surge was announced and Operation Phantom Phoenix is the current nationwide operation targeting al Qaeda's remaining safe havens,. Since 8 January at the beginning of the campaign, Iraqi and US forces have captured or killed 121 al Qaeda fighters, wounded 14, and detained an additional 1023 suspects. Al Qaeda's leadership has been hit hard during the operation, with 92 high values targets either killed or captured.

The material benefits include Iraqi and US forces who have also discovered 351 weapons caches and four tunnel complexes. Iraqi and US forces have also discovered three car bomb and improvised explosive device [IED] factories and 410 IEDs, including 18 car bombs and 25 homes rigged with explosives. Also found were numerous torture chambers, an underground medical clinic, several closed schools and a large foreign fighter camp with intricate tunnel complexes.

The conflict at home though has gone cold. Most of these details have escaped and as people speak up, we will understand more of the language.

Former Congressman Working for al-Qaida?

Graphic source: AP

This is one of those just-when-you-think-you-have-heard-it-all you hear about a former congressman and delegate to the United Nations who was indicted on charges of working for an alleged terrorist fundraising ring. The ring allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida supporter.

Mark Deli Siljander, a Michigan Republican as a member of the House was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about being hired to lobby senators on behalf of an Islamic charity. As in numerous so-called charities, the indictment charges that the group was secretly sending funds to terrorists.

The 42-count indictment accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency of paying Siljander $50,000 for the lobbying; what makes the indictment even more chilling, is that the money turned out to be stolen from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Siljander served in the House from 1981-1987 and was appointed by President Reagan to serve as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations in 1987.

Siljander writes in a new book that he was closing the chasm between Christian and Muslim communities.

Since 2004 the Islamic group (IARA) has been classified by the Treasury Department as a suspected fundraiser for terrorists.

The government accuses IARA of sending approximately $130,000 to help Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whom the United States has designated a global terrorist.

After working for the government, Siljander founded a consulting group Global Strategies Inc. and, according to the indictment, was hired by IARA to lobby the Senate Finance Committee to remove the charity from the panel's list of suspected terror fundraisers.

Siljander, IARA, and five of its officers were charged with various counts of theft, money laundering, aiding terrorists and conspiracy.

I find it hard to imagine that Americans would not find al-Qaeda as more of a threat if they can penetrate the United States Congress.

New Inexpensive Laptop

Graphic source: Linspire.

Since October a new sub-$200 fully equipped Linux desktop PC has been released.

Sears.com is selling a Mirus Innovations Inc. desktop machine that runs Linux from Linspire Inc. for $299, minus a $100 mail-in rebate.

The Linspire/Mirus PC features an Intel Celeron 420 1.6-GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, a 56Kbit/sec. modem, a CD-RW burner, a media card reader, a keyboard, speakers, a mouse and Linspire's Freespire 2.0 Linux operating system. There is no monitor included so shoppers will have to find their own to add.

Ghetto Scholarship

I can watch in alarm as scholarship is inhibited and parochial because even with the best of intentions academics inhabit ghetto worlds. Himmells edited a fine volume but although the ancient religions covered here are all over the earth, including the Middle East, there are no contributors from the Middle East. Wouldn't it stand to reason that an Arab or Middle Eastern expert could be found on Mesopotamian religion? Nonetheless, there is no such person in the work. But, the lack of Arab and Middle Eastern scholarship is typical, not extraordinary.

Panopto Giving Away CourseCast Technology

Rich Media software developer Panopto is releasing its CourseCast lecture-capture technology available free to qualified educational institutions. The software is distributed freely though its Socrates Project in exchange for participation in "ongoing beta and developer programs aimed at continually enhancing the technology."

Seems like a good deal to me.

India is the Place to Recruit H-1B Visa Holders

Indian nationals contribute 54% of the H-1B temporary visas available in 2006.

And of those who hold these visas, more than half again, are in computer-related occupations.

China was not even a close second, at 9%, among H-1B recipients. The next largest group of countries, all with 3% each, were Canada, South Korea and the Philippines.

A study by the National Science Board (NSB), which oversees the National Science Foundation, is the 588-page "Science and Engineering Indicators 2008" report that examines the state of science and engineering training as well as the ability of the U.S. to compete globally, and includes an analysis of H-1B visa trends.

Although the U.S. spent a record high in 2006 of about $340 billion in research and development, federal support for basic and applied research has declined for years. Additionally, the report warned that U.S. grade school students continue to lag behind those in other developed countries in science and math.

In a related point the Association for Computing Machinery concluded that Congress is abandoning its commitment to lead in science and technology.

In 2006, the top three employers of H-1B holders were India-based Infosys Technologies Ltd., at 4,908 visas; Wipro Ltd., at 4,002; and Tata Consultancy Services, at 3,046, according to data released by U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) last year.

The U.S. may not be competitive in a global economy. These reports, and ones like them, indicated that the economic output in China, India, and South Korea, is that the NSB report stated that what may be happening is "a slow shift of the epicenter of the world economic growth toward that region."

The education level of people receiving H-1B visas is generally high, almost have possessing a master's degree. The starting salary for both bachelor's and master's degree holders was approximately $56,000.

Vista: The Choice of Small Business

Although Vista adoption has been fairly slow in coming, in a latest report, tracking Vista adoption from Oct. 31 to Nov. 7, 2007, small businesses accounted for 53% of those companies either using or evaluating Vista. The small businesses may not be tied to XP as the larger organizations are and I wonder if SMBs might be more nimble and take advantage of their quicker adoption rate. In addition, the higher-education segment came in second place to the small business, with 49% reporting that their organizations are evaluating or using the operating system, finally, midsize to large businesses were third, with 48%.

Operation Iron Harvest

Graphic source: The Long War Journal

Operation Iron Harvest, based largely in the north, has resulted in 60 al Qaeda fighters killed and 193 suspects captured since the operation began last week. Seven al Qaeda fighters were killed in clashes south of Baqubah. Iraqi Special Forces captured an IED cell leader in Mosul. Coalition forces detained eight al Qaeda operative during raids in central and northern Iraq. Iraqi soldiers captured two terrorists in Baghdad. A senior Sadrist leader was killed in Baghdad.

Operation Phantom Phoenix Increases the Grip On Al Qaeda

Coalition and Iraqi security forces were active on Thursday and Friday in fighting as part of Operation Phantom Phoenix. Two senior al Qaeda in Iraq operatives were killed along with 32 foot soldiers during fighting in Arab Jabour, Miqdadiyah, and the Samarra region. Another 34 al Qaeda fighters were reported captured.

Cf. The Long War Journal. And in response, according to an insurgent video, the terrorists shot off a round or two.

Cheetah May Be a Bargain

The Cheetah, from Force Protection, costs twice as much as a Humvee but it will save lives.

India Transformed

India does not need to be considered a developing country but one that is transformed.

Don't Hold Your Breath

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to authorize peace talks but I would not expect too much.

Anything is better than nothing but not too much will come of this effort.

Waxman Releases TSA Report

Chairman Waxman releases a report on information security breach at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Traveler Redress website.

Pledge to Build a $75 Laptop

As if the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative was not enough a former OLPC CTO (Chief Technology Officer) aims to create a $75 laptop. If a new effort, Pixel Qi, by former CTO Mary Lou Jepsen can deliver the company a sunlight readable device.

A low-cost laptop has arisen from OLPC however the $100 XO laptop in 2005 has since become afflicted by production delays and rising costs. The laptop's estimated price rose $200. Now the effort is plagued by waning orders and competition from commercial vendors that threaten to sideline the nonprofit effort.

Government To Stop Killing Trees

For the first time the White House will cut paper out of federal budget. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will release a paperless 'e-budget' for FY09. The new budget will save roughly 20 tons of paper, or about 480 trees, for the government's first-ever paperless budget on Feb. 4.

Secunia Patches

Nearly every one is a victim of Windows PC but far fewer suspect they have an unpatched application.

Secunia provides the numbers and they are bleak: nearly all Windows computers are likely running at least one unpatched application and about 40% contain 11 or more vulnerable-to-attack programs.

Secunia ASP research shows that more than 95% of the PCs that have downloaded and installed its Personal Software Inspector (PSI) utility in the last week sport one or more applications. The solution is usually pretty simple, download the security fixes, but most people are not patching their systems.

So many systems are insecure. Almost half scanned in the last week have 11 or more vulnerabilities, while more than two-thirds have 6 or more unpatched programs.

Keep in mind that the typical user is more than most concerned about patches so the numbers are no doubt higher amongst average users

PSI runs on Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and Server 2003, and can be downloaded from the Secunia site.

Ideas Too Big for YouTube

A new site that I just considered is Big Think. The site bills itself as YouTube for intellectuals and that is a fair assessment. There are videos and people can post their comments on the content. Its worth a look.

Big Think is funded by Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook, and Larry Summers, former U.S. secretary of the Treasury and former president of Harvard University.

Sears Sued

As an update to the Sears issue which some people claimed was a privacy breach, a suit has been filed as a class-action case.

The case was filed on Friday by New Jersey resident Christine Desantis, who is represented by KamberEdelson LLC, a technology law firm.

Microsoft Says "Happy New Year"!

Microsoft greeted the New Year with only a moderate number, three, of patches.

Microsoft Corporation today released two security updates that patch three vulnerabilities in Windows. Only one of the three flaws is rated "critical," the highest ranking Microsoft uses, and the other two are only "important" and "moderate," the next two lower steps in the company's four ranks.

MS08-001 is the critical update that addresses two bugs in a trio of Windows' TCP/IP protocols.

Most of the issues are resolved unobtrusively for most users because these patches can be downloaded and installed via the Microsoft Update and Windows Update services, as well as through Windows Server Update Services. However, most ordinary users will receive the updates if they have their automatic updates enabled. The more problematic machines are for company or corporate computers in which the administrator would need to check that the updates were installed.

31 December 2007 Order of Battle of Coalition Troops in Iraq

Graphic source: The Long War Journal

For informative purposes, I posted the latest Order of Battle in Iraq.

The Hand That Rocks the Bombs

The hand that rocks the cradle.

Daily Report from Amiriya

7 January 2008
The alliance between the US army and Sunni former insurgents is being credited with forcing Al Qaeda out of Baghdad. Murders in the capital have decreased by 80% and calm is being restored.
"It all kicked off when we gathered the men of the area and decided to stand up to Al Qaeda", recalls Abu Tariq. "That was the start of the awakening". Tariq is the media agent and official cameraman for the Knights of Amiriyah, (also known as the Amiriyah Freedom Fighters), the jihadi insurgents who turned against Al Qaeda to help the Americans. While still ambivalent towards US forces, thousands of Amiriyah's erstwhile freedom fighters have signed up. They receive 0 every month from the Americans in exchange for cleaning out Al Qaeda. "The Amiriyah Freedom Fighters have done a great job", raves Capt Brian Wayman. "In the month that I've worked with them, they've caught and killed more Al Qaeda members than we've been able to do for quite some time". In recent months, the Knights have spread beyond the boundaries of Amiriyah into other neighbourhoods, where Al Qaeda are now on the run. As Abu Tariq states; "Things are 90% better now. You can see for yourself".

Muslim Clerics Speak

This is a clip of Muslim clerics preaching.

The Future: Middle Eastern Children's Performance

This clip features the performance of children at a rally. The children are our future.

Sears Gets it Half Right

I blogged before about the criticism that Sears ran into and they addressed the issue. Sears plugs the Web site's privacy hole.

The problem was that Sears Holdings appeared to violate privacy concerns, and as a result, they took part of its Managemyhome.com Web site offline.

A customer's purchase history on Manage My Home might have been able to be accessed by unauthorized persons.

The feature, although handy for customers, is a violation of Sears' own privacy policies.

On the other hand, Sears, the third-largest retailer in the U.S., has left intact its My SHC Community portal, which downloads invasive ComScore Web tracking software to some users.

The criticism is that the company does not fully disclose what the software actually does.

As the Sears 2005 merger with Kmart progresses, there are apparently some rough spots. At least partially, Sears is making the effort to right the ship.

Note On: "The Looming Tower"

The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright, an excellent book by the way, has a touching scene when Ali Soufan, the Lebanese American FBI agent who interrogated Abu Jandal, the Yemeni source for much of what we know about the 9/11 hijackers, where Ali finally breaks him.

Ali got Abu to identify the hijackers in a brilliant ploy.

But Wright builds up to the identification of the hijackers by beginning his story six decades ago with the first Middle Eastener to attack the West.

Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian who was offended by the decadent Americans while attending college in Colorado. Qutb's jail time manifesto justified takfir which held that Islam was the only true religion and that true believers had the religious obligation to kill everyone—including women and children—who disagreed with the true faith (29).

Wright describes Bin Laden's youth and evolution as a thinker when in 1980 Osama adopted the doctrine of takfir as al-Qa’ida’s operating principle.

The Americans are slow to understand Bin Laden but when they do FBI terrorist experts Dan Coleman, John O’Neill, and to a lesser extent Michael Scheuer and Richard Clarke are quick to identify him as a significant threat. They first learned of al-Qa’ida from a Sudanese defector, Jamal al-Fadl, shortly after bin Laden declared war on the United States in 1996. While al-Qa’ida evolved and planned its terrorist operations—the first World Trade Center bombing, the attacks in Lebanon, Africa, and on the USS Cole—leading up to 9/11, the FBI and CIA came to realize that al-Qa’ida planned terrorist attacks against America itself.

Wright documents that on 11 September 2001, the Bureau had only one analyst working full time on the al-Qa’ida account.

Wright demonstrates that the failure of the FBI and the CIA to cooperate at key junctures and the failure of Clinton to aggressively identify and attack Bin Laden provided him a loophole to escape.

In the words of Scheuer in his own work Imperial Hubris, American policy makers failed to smoke Bin Laden in the dust of history. Americans were failed by the tepid investigation and muted response by American policy makers. The tragedy of 9/11 is the result.

Texas Teen Girls Slain for Honor?

Graphic source: The Dallas Morning News

The faces that peer out of the photograph may look like typical American teen age girls but they are not.

The two slain Lewisville High School students, near Dallas, Texas, sisters were mourned at services. Sarah, 17, and Amina Yaser Said, 18, both excelled in academics and athletics but their Egyptian-born father, Yaser Abdel Said, is still on the loose. They were both found shot to death in a taxi at an Irving motel.

There are rumors and media reports that the Muslim father's religion may have been the reason for the killings as "honor killings," a practice in which a man kills a female relative who he believes has somehow shamed the family.

Irving police are investigating but they have acknowledged that the family had some previous domestic problems.

Gail Gartrell, the sisters' great-aunt, charged that Mr. Said physically abused the two girls for years. The father was upset recently to discover that the girls had boyfriends.

The mother and girls had fled the father thinking he would kill them.

At the funeral, Dr. Yusuf Kavacki, head of the Richardson mosque, told mourners that all living things are destined to die. He did not address the Muslim issue of honor killings.

These are strange days in America when no one questions the death of children.

Juan Cole Addressed the AHA on the "Lessons Not Learned in Iraq"

Juan Cole spoke yesterday at the American Association of Historians.

Biography:

John "Juan" Ricardo I. Cole (born October 1952 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is an American professor of modern Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University of Michigan. As a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs, he has appeared in print and on television, and testified before the United States Senate. He has published several peer-reviewed books on the modern Middle East and is a translator of both Arabic and Persian. Since 2002, he has written a weblog, Informed Comment (formerly Informed Consent).

Cf. Wikipedia.

Criticism

Alexander H. Joffe in the Middle East Quarterly has written that "Cole suggests that many American Jewish officials hold dual loyalties, a frequent anti-Semitic theme." Cole argues that his critics have "perverted the word 'antisemitic,'" and also points out that "in the Middle East Studies establishment in the United States, I have stood with Israeli colleagues and against any attempt to marginalize them or boycott them."

According to Efraim Karsh, Cole has done "hardly any independent research on the twentieth-century Middle East", and Karsh characterized Cole's analysis of this era as "derivative." He has also responded to Cole's criticism of Israeli policies and the influence of the Israel lobby, comparing them to accusations that have been made in anti-semitic writings. Cole responded directly to Karsh in his blog, dismissing one of Karsh's charges, that Cole's criticisms echo themes in the antisemitic tract Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as a "propaganda technique," adding that "No serious person who knows me or my work would credit his outrageous insinuations for a moment." Cole also defended his knowledge of modern Middle Eastern history, comparing his experience "on the ground" in the modern Arab world favorably with that of Bernard Lewis, a historian he said is "lionized" by Karsh.

AAH Features a Non-Expert to Present on Contemporary American Foreign Policy

Bruce Cumings spoke yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Association of Historians.

He is a historian and a professor at the University of Chicago, specializing in modern Korean history and contemporary international relations in East Asia. In this instance, I'm not sure why he is considered an expert in American presidents or in Middle Eastern affairs. This is not his area of expertise.

During his talk, he stated that he is not sure why he is so "nervous" but he has been on a "liquid diet."

Criticism

Cumings' scholarship on Korea has been challenged by some academic critics, and in general his work has stirred up more controversy than that of most other historians.

Paul Hollander has argued that Cumings' has a left-wing, pro-North Korea bias. He cites the example of Cumings' discussion of the North Korean gulag system, noting that "in a triumph of selective perception, he manages to interpret the most damning indictment of the North Korean gulag available--The Aquariums of Pyongyang, by Kang Chol-Hwan and Pierre Rigoulot--as providing support for his views of the system. As he sees it, the book is 'interesting and believable' because it is not the 'ghastly tale of totalitarian repression that its original publishers ... meant it to be.' But it is precisely and resoundingly that, as any reader without a soft spot for North Korean tyranny would readily discover. Cumings writes that "conditions were primitive and beatings were frequent [in the camp described in that book] but the inmates also were able to improvise much of their upkeep on their own ... small animals could surreptitiously be caught and cooked." He delicately refrains from mentioning that these small animals were mostly rats, and a regular part of the narrator's diet. That book makes abundantly clear that hunger and malnutrition were endemic; inmates stealing food or trying to escape were executed. Cumings also fails to mention these public executions the inmates were obliged to attend, stressing instead that families were commendably kept together and that "death from starvation was rare." In any event, he suggests, these deprivations are put into the proper perspective by our "longstanding, never-ending gulag full of black men in our prisons"--which should disqualify us from "pointing a finger."

Historian Allan Millett has argued that Cumings' "eagerness to cast American officials and policy in the worst possible light, however, often leads him to confuse chronological cause and effect and to leap to judgments that cannot be supported by the documentation he cites or ignores."

Writing in the Atlantic Monthly, Korea expert B.R. Myers lambasted Cumings and in particular his book North Korea: Another Country. Myers argued that, in the book, "Cumings likens North Korea to Thomas More's Utopia, and this time the wrongheadedness seems downright willful; it's as if he were so tired of being made to look silly by forces beyond his control that he decided to do the job himself."

Cf. Wikipedia article: Bruce Cumings.

Santa Knows How to Navigate and Shows Me How

Graphic source: Magellan.

Finally haven taken the GPS plunge, thank you Santa, I now plot my current location, so that my Magellan Maestro 4210 North America can acquire at least three different satellite signals. The more signals it grabs, the more accurate its positioning will be. The device allows you to see your current GPS signal reception, the number of signals, the direction from which they're being received, and your current longitude and latitude. You can touch a Point of View (POI) icon for nearby services on the interactive map and see the address and phone number (when available) and get an instant route. The SiRFstarIII™ GPS receiver and built-in high-sensitivity antenna provide quick position acquisition for reliable navigation. QuickSpell™ intelligently searches and checks spelling so you can enter your destination with just a few touches of the screen. SmartDetour™ prompts you to route around sudden slow freeway traffic. The SD/MMC card slot may be used to Backup or Restore your receiver’s address book and store Custom Point of Interests (POIs). Backup and Restore is available in the receiver’s User Options from the Main Menu.

Firefox 3 Beta 2, A Tweak or Two

Graphic source: Computerworld

I'm a big fan of Firefox so with a new release in the offing I took a look. One handy new feature is the downloading information. In order to keep better track of downloads the upcoming Firefox 3 Beta 2 includes a handy Mozilla tweak. Not only the file name is listed but also the URL it was downloaded from, and the download information includes an icon that leads to information about when and where you downloaded it. The Remove link has been removed from the Download manager although you can still delete by right-clicking. I would have let it as it is but I'm quibbling here. I look forward to more development to see what Mozilla comes up with. I do like the increased security features as well.

Internet Is a Mixed Blessing for Politics

In Iowa, as I think has been the case building up to the caucus, is that however interesting novel uses of the Internet may be, the number of Facebook "friends" or the number of YouTube video views that campaigners have elicited, has not resulted in solid results. The candidates seem to be stuck in the same quandrey as businesses. They don't know how to effectively exploit the unbelievable amount of free time that people expend online into purchasing, or electoral support. The Web 2.0 world has been a mixed blessing for politicians.

A note on: Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, Robert Pape

Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism (2005; ISBN 1-4000-6317-5) by Robert Pape is a cogent analysis of suicide terrorism. Pape compiled a database at the University of Chicago where he directs the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism.

Pape claims to possess the world’s first “database of every suicide bombing and attack around the globe from 1980 through 2003 — 315 attacks in all” (3).

He states: “what nearly all suicide terrorist attacks have in common is a specific secular and strategic goal: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists consider to be their homeland” (4).

It is imperative that Americans understand his point.

How can the U.S. respond? Pape has a few suggestions.

Victory should be defined as defeating the current crop of terrorists and preventing a new group arising.

He states: “the taproot is American military policy” (244).

Pape suggests a policy of “‘off-shore’ balancing”: establishing local alliances while maintaining the capacity for rapid deployment of military forces (247-50).

The local alliances, this is my point, Pape is not responsible for this, should be to increase the involvement of Middle Eastern states, the Russians, and Chindia.

Sears and Kmart Nabbed in Spyware Controversy

Graphic source: screen shot by Benjamin Googins

Sears and Kmart are old-time companies that do not grasp the implications of the technology that they are using. This is not to excuse what they did, as they have recently been embroiled in a spyware controversy but it is what it is.

This is unfortunate for Sears since I've been really been impressed recently with Sears' sensitivity and support for our military personnel but here they are in the midst of spyware.

How so? Apparently, customers who sign up for a new marketing program may be giving up more private information according to a leading anti-spyware researcher.

According to a story released by Computerworld, Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Ben Edelman, Sears Holdings' My SHC Community program falls short of U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) standards by failing to notify users precisely what occurs once they download the company's marketing software. Sears does not tell customers that the software "tracks every site you go to, every search you make, every product you buy, and every product you look at but don't buy. It's just spooky."

CA senior engineer Benjamin
Googins wrote in a late December blog entry that criticized the software. The Sears software was written by VoiceFive, a subsidiary of Internet measurement firm ComScore.

In his blog, Googins states his conclusion:

Sears.com is pushing software with extensive user tracking capabilities and doing a very poor job of obtaining informed consent – if at all. After the proxy software is installed on the user’s system there is nothing on the user’s desktop to indicate their every move on the Internet is being collected and sent to a third party market research company, comScore.

Although the software was not written by Sears they are still clearly responsible for the content and application of the contracted software. Oops, it looks like the old-time companies who foster good customer relations need to work harder.

Graphic source: another screen shot by Benjamin Googins

Acceptable Costs of War?

There are those that would say there are acceptable costs associated with war. The key is of course that the current sentiment in America does not allow for complex answers, unspeakable horrors, and relentless warfare. This new type of American would be unrecognized by historical figures such as Washington, Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, et. al.

Islamofascists Testify

A recent video introduces us to some Islamofascists.

Considering a Hard-Drive Erasing?

Looking for a disk-wiping program, preferably one that meets the U.S. Department of Defense's standards for disk sanitation? The DOD suggests that a hard drive should be wiped clean seven times so these programs will overwrite your entire hard disk with data multiple times, ensuring that the original data can't be retrieved. I hope you can be patient because it can take several hours to wipe the hard disk.

One to consider is Darik's Boot and Nuke which is free down loadable software that creates a boot disk which wipes everything cleanly on the hard drive. It can be used with floppy disks, USB flash drives, as well as CDs and DVDs. A similar program is Eraser which I have not seen or used so at some point I may be able to compare the two.

FBI Abuses Biometrics

Graphic source: Bob Shaw For The Washington Post

The FBI is preparing to abuse a vast database of biometric data in a $1 billion project which includes images of irises and faces. The FBI has consistently had a truly abysmal IT record so I would not imagine this can be a good development.

The basic procedural protocol and etiquette between our top two crime and espionage units, The Company, and the FBI, is so much more a cultural and organizational priority that I can see little good to come out of the new project. It also seems inherently flawed along Orwellian lines.

With the FBI possessing the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, I can envision a government with an unprecedented ability to monitor individuals in the United States and abroad.

Apparently, digital images of faces, fingerprints, and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement.

A 10-year contract will be announced soon that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information the FBI receives. World-wide policing will rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even individual characteristics and personal traits such as the unique way that people walk and talk will be included. At an employers request, the FBI will also retain the fingerprints of employees who have undergone criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if employees encounter the law.

The project has alarmed some, such as Barry Steinhardt, director of the Technology and Liberty Project of the American Civil Liberties Union because: "It's enabling the Always On Surveillance Society."

The system planned by the FBI is called Next Generation Identification and it looks like its here to stay.

The servers in the Appalachian underground facility which houses the project, the size of two football fields, receives a hit every second from somewhere in the United States or Canada, comparing a set of digital fingerprints against the FBI's database of 55 million sets of electronic fingerprints. A possible match is made--or ruled out--as many as 100,000 times a day.

If the system works well at all, the information would be collected from a wide variety of sources and would subsequently available to multiple agencies which increases the chances to catch criminals. This procedure was not done in 2001 which allowed the 9/11 hijackers to escape detection. The FBI will make both criminal and civilian data available to authorized users and there are now 900,000 federal, state and local law enforcement officers who can query the fingerprint database.

Orwell, anyone?

Top Innovative Product of 2007: HP's TouchSmart IQ770

HP's TouchSmart IQ770 all-in-one PC is my choice as the top innovative product of the year. This is the first all-in-one PC on the market to boast a touch-screen display. I wouldn't be interested in an iPhone, thats just me, I don't do mobile handsets but the HP I wouldn't mind having.

The product is pricey at $1,650 but it is beautifully designed, and its touch screen makes it handy for just about anywhere which is a big selling point in my book.

Awakening Councils Making Their Mark

The Awakening Councils are making their mark in Iraq by cooperating with the U.S. military and they are annoying Bin Laden as evidenced by his expressed displeasure in his last video.

Lyrics, "Wake Up Everybody," Harold Melvin

Wake Up Everybody
Harold Melvin

Wake up everybody no more sleepin in bed
No more backward thinkin time for thinkin ahead
The world has changed so very much
From what it used to be so
there is so much hatred war an' poverty
Wake up all the teachers time to teach a new way
Maybe then they'll listen to whatcha have to say
Cause they're the ones who's coming up and the world is in their hands
when you teach the children teach em the very best you can.

Chorus
The world won't get no better if we just let it be
The world won't get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me.

Wake up all the doctors make the ol' people well
They're the ones who suffer an' who catch all the hell
But they don't have so very long before the Judgement Day
So won'tcha make them happy before they pass away.
Wake up all the builders time to build a new land
I know we can do it if we all lend a hand
The only thing we have to do is put it in our mind
Surely things will work out they do it every time.

Repeat Chorus.

All lyrics are the property and copyright of their respective owners. All lyrics provided for educational purposes and personal use only.

Hampton Sides, Blood and Thunder

Although there is little new in this volume Sides has done an admirable job of illustrating the broad landscape of the 19th-century Southwest. His prose convincingly portrays the historian's concern for accuracy with a pleasing presentation of a huge topic, Western expansion and Manifest Destiny. Sides's main aim is to demonstrate the almost complete decimation of the Navajo nation from the 1820s to the late 1860s. Sides focuses on Kit Carson—an illiterate trapper, soldier and scout who knew the Native Americans first hand, and who married two natives, yet, ultimately collaborated in the Indians' slaughter. The final draw was the doomed defense mounted by the Navajos in 1863 at Canyon de Chelly.

The description of the great Navaho headman, Narbona, should not be missed.

This work will find its rightful place next to Bernard De Voto's magisterial The Year of Decision 1846, the work Sides most closely resembles.

Lyrics to "My God" by Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull, "My God" - Album: Aqualung

People -- what have you done --
locked Him in His golden cage.
Made Him bend to your religion --
Him resurrected from the grave.
He is the god of nothing --
if that's all that you can see.
You are the god of everything --
He's inside you and me.
So lean upon Him gently
and don't call on Him to save you
from your social graces
and the sins you used to waive.
The bloody Church of England --
in chains of history --
requests your earthly presence at
the vicarage for tea.
And the graven image you-know-who --
with His plastic crucifix --
he's got him fixed --
confuses me as to who and where and why --
as to how he gets his kicks.
Confessing to the endless sin --
the endless whining sounds.
You'll be praying till next Thursday to
all the gods that you can count.

All lyrics are the property and copyright of their respective owners. All lyrics provided for educational purposes and personal use only.

Max Wall Biography

Kramer on "Seinfeld" looks like he has been influenced by Max Wall. Wall notably toured with the 1972 Mott The Hoople Rock 'n' Roll Circus tour. Below follows a brief biography from YouTube.

Max Wall (12 March 1908--21 May 1990) was the stage name of British comedian Maxwell Lorimer. His performing career covered theatre, films and television.
Wall was a son of the successful music-hall entertainer Jack (Jock) Lorimer and his wife Stella. He was born near The Oval, in London. In 1918, during World War I, Wall was saved from death by his cast iron bed-frame, but both his younger brother and their were killed by a bomb from a German Zeppelin that destroyed their house.
Wall made his stage début at the age of 14 as an acrobatic dancer in a pantomime, but is best remembered for his ludicrously attired and hilariously strutting Professor Wallofski. This creation notably influenced John Cleese, who has acknowledged Max Wall's influence on the creation of his own Ministry of Silly Walks sketch for Monty Python. After appearing in many musicals and stage comedies in the 1930s, Wall's career went into decline, and he was reduced to working in obscure nightclubs. He then joined the RAF during WW2 and served for 3 years until he was invalided out in 1943.

Wall re-emerged when producers and directors rediscovered his comic talents, along with the expressive power of his tragic clown face and the distinctive sad falling cadences of his voice. He secured television appearances, and having attracted Beckett's attention, he won parts in Waiting for Godot and Krapp's Last Tape. In 1966 he appeared as Père Ubu in Jarry's Ubu Roi, and in 1972 he toured with Mott the Hoople on their "Rock n' Roll Circus tour", gaining a new audience. His straight acting gained him this review in 1974:

"Max Wall makes Olivier look like an amateur in The Entertainer at Greenwich Theatre..." (The Guardian, 27 November 1974)

He also appeared in Crossroads, Coronation Street and what was then Emmerdale Farm. He also played an ex-con in Minder, with George Cole.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Wall occasionally performed a one-man stage show, An Evening with Max Wall, in which he recaptured the humour of old-time music-hall theatre.

His last film appearance was in the 12-minute movie A Fear of Silence, a dark tale of a man who drives a stranger to a confession of murder by answering only Yes or No to his questions; those two words, repeated, were his only dialogue. The film won a gold award in the New York Film and TV Festival.

American Jihad, a Disservice

Emerson poorly documents the clandestine activities of Islamic terrorist groups in the U.S.

I wish he had done a better job of explaining the ideological motives of the global Islamic Jihad movements. I do believe that Jihadists exploit the freedoms in the U.S. as they recruit and finance their organizations. A definitive work needs to be written but this is not it.

Bush Against Defense?

This is a surprise to me but Bush is not expected to approve the Defense Authorization Bill. There are several reasons being mentioned now as to why he would do such a thing.

Al-Jazeera Believes, Just a Bit?

Al-Jazeera has a non-scientific poll on their web site asking: "Do you believe that the security situation in Iraq improved as U.S. generals claim?"

The majority say no but I think it significant that almost 30% said yes. Most Al-Jazeera readers don't agree much at all with an American position but they are somewhat in this instance.

This is a sign that insurgent activity is waning: Petraeus has exercised classic counter-insurgency measures and it has paid off.

The poll, by the numbers, states:

Yes
(29.52%)

No
(64.51%)
Maybe
(5.96%)
Total Voters: 1409

Dialogue With a Palestinian

Dialogue:
Me, limited to the brief comments allowed by the medium but attempting not to be inane (as reflected by "Terrorist Death Watch"):

The Iraqi people have turned on AQI because it overreached trying to impose an alien and harsh practice of Islam inconsistent with the more moderate practices of the Sunni minority. (16% of the population.) The foreign jihadist elements in AQI (with their enormous hatred of what they view as the apostate Shia) have alienated the nationalism of the broader Iraqi population. Foreign intervention across the Syrian frontier has dropped substantially.

"palestinianryder"

Name: Mujahid
Country: Gaza Strip

Thanks for being polite in your comments, other anti-Mujahideen comments I've had to delete because swear words, not their opinion. But it would be fair to say some Iraqi's have turned on AQI because of their harshness, but you are also forgetting the occupation has brought many hardships, and the 300$ a month, security gurantees, and amnesty the US offers to "awakening council" members is a much bigger contributing factor.

Reply:

Your welcome. Saddam hardly brought peace and prosperity. The coalition is very interested in leaving soon. We leave for only one or two reasons: 1) complete defeat of insurgents; 2) all insurgents lay down their arms. This is the choice of the insurgents. We are much more accustomed to watching Muslims slaughter their brother Muslims mercilessly as before.

IT Concerned About Iraq

I find it interesting that a recent poll of 600 tech workers by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) identified the war in Iraq as the top political issue in the U.S.

The fact that most polled were white and high paid is not surprising since that is reflective of the IT field in general, but Iraq?

Over half of the polled, 54%, stated that they make more than $75,000 per year, with 32% earning over $100,000. Only 13% have annual incomes of less than $40,000.

They were nonetheless politically independent, the largest category--39%--selected "other" as their political affiliation while 35% identified themselves as Republicans and 26% said they were Democrats.

When the IT workers were asked what is the most important issue that the next president will face, their top three responses mirrored similar surveys of the general population in the U.S. Twenty-nine percent picked the war in Iraq as the top issue, followed by 22% citing terrorism and 19% pointing to the economy.

On the issue of free trade, 48% said that it helps the U.S. economy, while 37% said that it hurts. Asked whether the U.S. should "regulate the Internet as it does telephone and television," 82% opposed the notion.

Full Tilt Boogie

Graphic source: Gizmodo

AT and T Tilt (also known as the HTC 8925) may have enough features to interest me in time for Santa to get for me.

The Windows Mobile device can be held in your hands or rest comfortably on a surface.

The device has a hinged display designed to accommodate various viewing positions but when it is open the roomy adjustable screen provides the look of a tiny laptop which is attractive to me.

A tiny laptop is something which I find it intriguing from the days of PDAs but without the communication ability. The Tilt is also a Windows Mobile 6 device, a fully quad-band GSM world phone compatible with EDGE/GPRS and with high-speed 3G UMTS and HSDPA broadband networks.

It has sufficient ROM, 256MB, and memory, 128MB, for what I would need it for. The display is a spacious 2.8 inches, with 320 by 240 resolution, and 64,000 colors. The processor is 400 MHz, with a Qualcomm MSM7200.

It is supposed to be available for up to four hours of talk time and up to eight days of standby time. I'd always wait to see how this would work under my battle conditions.

The items has up to six Bluetooth pairings simultaneously since it can combine a Bluetooth headset and an external keyboard at the very least.

I'm a sucker for a QWERTY keyboard so since it has one this is another big plus in my book.

The 3-megapixel camera is not important to me but it may be for some users.

The big items for me are admittedly what I am interested in with such a device. Top on my list is the handiness of a full-featured mobile computer, in particular the mobile versions of Microsoft Word and Excel. The multimedia playback (via syncing with Windows Media 10 on your desktop) is a nice feature but not a deal breaker. I also would be interested in having the built-in GPS for use with the TeleNav GPS Navigator (an extra-cost service priced at $10 a month for unlimited routes). This is generally what Santa might want to think about stuffing in my sock this Christmas.

Worthwhile Firefox Hacks Thanks to Computerworld

Graphic source: Computerworld

Those great folks, at Computerworld, show how to tweak, hack, and bend Firefox to the user's will.

There are good tips to read: worthwhile reading.

Cf. Computerworld.

Ho Hum, Top Ten Religion Stories of the Year

The top ten biggest religion stories of the year should be vitally important and crucial. As compiled this year in an article by the Times David Van Biema, here we go.

#1 Mother Teresa’s Crisis of Faith

As all great saint-like types, I'll let it up to my betters to decide if she should be a saint or not, but there are now letters Mother Teresa wrote to her confessors. She described the agony of not being able to sense her beloved God for half a century. Most saints had such lapses. Why is this so important? Anyone read Martin Luther or St. John of the Cross? The letters make her more human, and more saintly.

#2 Faith Stalks the Campaign Trail!

So its not just Bush who loves religion but Hillary has a White House prayer group. Should this be so surprising? Look who she is married to, she needs it. Then again, Mitt explains his Mormonism and Huckabee is a real preacher. If preachers are real.

#3 The Rev. Jerry Falwell Dies

This might be ranked higher. Falwell fell from the limelight but he did mark a right-wing path of conservative political power. That is significant.

#4 The Pope and Latin Mass

If the story is that Benedict XVI relieves priests of having to get their bishop’s permission to celebrate Mass in old-school Latin, truth be told, Latin could always the language of the Mass, even after Vatican II. The story is more symbolic or lamented, depending on your bias.

#5 The Slow-Motion Episcopal/Anglican Train Wreck

This story is painful. The Episcopal Bishops’ meeting in New Orleans fails to stem the ongoing defection of conservatives over the church’s positions on gays, or the likelihood of a worldwide Anglican split over the same issue. Here are really good people stuck on an impossibly complex issue to resolve. Lotsa' luck.

#6 Green Evangelicals

This story has been building for some time and if you examine stewardship amongst Christians, the notion has been percolating for over twenty years. Thus, global warming, along with poverty and torture, have become hot issues to a maturing conservative Christian movement.

#7 The Roar of Atheist Books

Anyone is better than Madilyn Murray O'Hare, but seriously, the Sam Harris' have done the thinking world a service and have written some fine books.

#8 Another Blow to a Megachurch

A year after Ted Haggard resigned as pastor of Colorado’s New Life Church--having admitted to “immorality” involving a gay escort--a gunman kills two congregants in its parking lot. Haggard’s replacement, Brady Boyd, moves to heal many wounds.

Tragedy is not found only in churches, this is a sign of the times, not so much a religion story.

#9 The Creation Museum

The Petersburg, Ky., multimillion-dollar monument to the Flintstone (Young Earth) principle doubles projected attendance, now we can all laugh and move on. 77% of Americans think God at least guided our development.

#10 Kidnapped Korean Missionaries

The Taliban kills two of the 23 and eventually releases the rest amid rumors that South Korea paid $10 million in ransom. This is another sign of the times type of story and hardly religion alone.

All in all, a disappointing lot with few real significant religion stories. This year's summary makes it look like religion is secondary and simply follows more general news stories.

Today's Peloponnesian War Between the U.S. and China

Thucydides: Graphic source, Wikipedia Commons

Thucydides, our embedded reporter, today reported that the real reason for initiation of the Peloponnesian War is the Chinese fear of the Americans and their increasing power.

Among the causes of hostility is the American claim to unilateral world leadership generally considered incompatible with the rights of individual states.

Fear of the power of the Americans and the universal world love of independence from outside control, then, were contributing factors to the Peloponnesian War.

Ok, so this is an historical leap of application but in the analogy presented here the U.S. is Athens and China is Sparta. There are enough surface similarities to make the comparison plausible as a thought experiment. Athens and the U.S. are democratic, aggressive, indulgent, and urbane; Sparta and China are authoritarian, imperialistic--and well, dare I suggest it, spartan obviously, and jingoistic.

But if a serious conflict ever came between the U.S. and China the historical fiction herein is possible for the reasons noted as Thucydides elaborated in his scientific history.

Mickey Mouse Clone and Palestinian Children Advocate Violence and Death

New videos have been posted with a popular T.V. character Mickey Mouse clone and Palestinian children advocating violence and death.

Point Well-Taken from the Military Chief

"In Afghanistan, we do what we can," said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "In Iraq, we do what we must."

Keep 'em Barefoot and Pregnant (And Covered)

Iraq is moving to disarm its policewomen after the U.S. attempted to incorporate women into the Iraqi police force.

Any woman who earned the right to serve as an officer, even if they are not on the front lines, will have their pay held in order to force compliance.

The Iraqi government is taking a turn to the right, and will hamper stability in Iraq by taking half of the nation's brainpower out of commission.

Policewomen are needed otherwise there would be no officers to search female suspects, which men are not allowed to do, although women have joined the ranks of suicide bombers.

Women are also required in investigating rape, which stigmatizes women in Iraq, because few victims feel comfortable reporting it to men.

Female police officers could protect themselves better because ordinarily a service weapon remains with them off the job. Without police work, women are more vulnerable.

Iraqi law prevents policewomen from advancing to commanding-officer levels.

In 2004 U.S. trainers began recruiting women for the Iraqi police and were so swamped with applicants that they had to turn many away. About 1,000 women graduated from the program in the first year alone.

The Iraqi government ignores the needs of poor women and meanwhile the next opportunity for more security and social advances is stifled by Iraq.

Can the Lull in Iraq last?

The latest story in Iraq is that the violence is truly, and remarkably, down. Most liberal commentators would not admit it but I tried to seek out alternative news sources in the summer and they have proven prescient. The surge or something has worked. If this development moves beyond a lull and becomes a reality, it will have dramatic repercussions in next year's election.

Kyoto, and China

I am not sure why, well, I know why Bush is taking a beating on the Kyoto energy issues. The world is angry at the U.S. for pursuing policies that the country views in its interest.

That a nation pursues its interests, and that nations have formed their prejudices, I can live with. What bothers me is that genuine issues, such as those that exist in regards to China, get a free pass.

Isn't it about time that China comes up to the world plate and faces the music?

The Ones That Get It: Government Security Advances

The flagrant missteps that the government has taken with security make the headlines and permit us bloggers to kick back laugh at yet another example of governmental ineptitude.

Whether to mollify critics or to frustrate bloggers some in public service have actually gotten it right.

As reported by Computerworld the SANS Institute released a list of the more successful security efforts within the federal government.

The successful initiatives in the SANS list were selected based on actual evidence of having made substantial and measurable improvements in one or more of three areas. Those three areas are the ability to prevent cyber attacks against critical infrastructure targets, reducing national vulnerability to cyber attacks, and minimizing damage and recovery time from attacks that do occur.

The Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) initiative

The FDCC effort helps government agencies reduce procurement costs and bolster security of their desktop environments by requiring agencies to implement standard baseline security configurations on all their Windows XP and Vista desktops.

This program seems to save the taxpayers money; I like it.

The US-CERT Einstein program

The Einstein Program is an initiative to improve cybersecurity-related situational awareness across the civilian federal government.

This initiative promotes cross agency data sharing and is in keeping with the spirit of the 9/11 Commission. Kudos.

The National SCADA Test Bed and Control Systems Security Program

This effort was spurred largely by post-9/11 fears of cyberattacks against the nation's power utility infrastructure. This is the one that is perhaps scariest of all because it impacts the average person so immediately and seems particularly vulnerable to attack.

The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) testbed program is designed to help identify vulnerabilities in the control systems that manage power plants, electric distribution systems, oil and gas pipelines, water systems, transportation systems, and dams. Vulnerabilities, when found, are reported to the vendors for remedial action, and become part of the required procurement checklist for future purchases. Cf. Computerworld.

I'd like to see this instituted on my block because my local power can not supply power on an annual basis without losing power all too often.

The Department of Defense's Common Access Card (CAC) program

The two-factor authentication supported by the DoD's common-access smart card identity credentials has greatly strengthened access controls to non-classified defense systems.

Well, that's it. I'd like to see more but at least there is progress and that is hwat we will be getting for now.

Chinese Chips

China is on the move in the chip market as in other field and its market has grown 15% in 2007. The market research firm iSuppli Corporation released these figures which marked the first time a maturing Chinese market exceeded $50 billion in revenue.

The increased numbers arose largely from sales of chips for industrial control systems like motor controls, security and surveillance systems, and automotive electronics. Communication equipment markets are also robust.

The latest released indicates how the Chinese market benefits from American sluggishness. Chinese growth is expected to slow somewhat though.

Firefox Equals Explorer Amongst College Students

Eduventures, an eLearning company, issued results from a survey of college students which showed that Firefox and IE are neck and neck for popularity. Firefox has a college and student addition which may indicate why the browser can obtain allegiance amongst younger people.

The 18-to 24-year-old students students are enrolled full-time at a four-year college or university via a Web survey.

Both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox are tied for most preferred Web browser at 45 percent. The other browsers, AOL, Avant, and Camino, also received some lesser support.

33% of respondents enjoyed Mozilla Firefox and its “tabbed browsing” feature. That preference is not hard to understand as a reason for their preference. Tabbed browsing makes for a better experience. The survey also pointed out that 31% who prefer Explorer also use Firefox, while 65 percent who prefer Firefox also use Explorer.

The relationship between the two browsers seems to be symbiotic.

Cf. "Snapshot: Firefox, IE Vie for Popularity Among College Students," Campus Technology, 12/10/2007, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=56608.

Graphic source: Eduventures

Iran Needs a Supercomputer to Predict the Weather, Hmmmm, Hot?

Graphic source: Computerworld Farsi version

Computerworld's Patrick Thibodeau broke a story in which the Iranian High Performance Computing Research Center claims to have now enough Opteron processors to build a 216-core supercomputer.

Apparently according to the official Iranian sources, they need a computer like this for weather and meteorological research.

Uhhh, sure.

The computer is the fastest to have been produced in Iran.

Thibodeau is to be commended for his investigative reporting in that he uncovered information that indicates how Teheran circumvented U.S. trade restrictions. The processors moved through the United Arab Emirates state of Dubai.

AMD, and their Opteron processor, is key to the computer and AMD is cozy with the UAE. Last month AMD received $622 million in funding from an investment firm in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital.

Two Worthwhile Enlightenment Quotes

“My trade is to say what I think.”

Voltaire

“No man has received from nature the right to give orders to others. Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same species has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his reason.”

—Denis Diderot

Whole Lotta' Releasin' Goin' On

Nixon and Elvis meeting

Graphic source: The National Archives

I had hoped to post at least summaries of what the Nixon Presidential Library released as new materials arose from the National Archives but so far I only know what I read in the papers.

The papers noted tantalizing releases though.

The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum released approximately 122,800 pages of historical materials from the Nixon presidency at the National Archives in College Park, MD.

The last time I visited the Nixon Library it was well worth the time and I would have had a chance to purview the materials if they had been released. College Park looks like a better site to access the materials now.

Some of the highlights of the materials include national security documents on U.S. policy towards Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Soviet Union, and the Kurds. Also included are documents on the Vietnam War, on dealing with the terrorist Black September Organization, on producing the CIA’s Presidential Daily Brief, and on U.S. covert action in Chile. Last, but not least, the documents also include information on Elvis Presley and Nixon's famous meeting with him.

A selection of 15 documents from the release were posted on the Nixon Presidential Library.

This is the largest release of Nixon-related materials under mandatory review: over 10,000 pages of documents were previously withheld from public access, and that were re-reviewed for release and/or declassified under the provisions of Executive Order 12958, as amended, or in accordance with 36 CFR 1275.56 (Public Access Regulations). The documents are from file segments for the White House Special Files, Staff Member and Office Files; the National Security Council File series including the Henry A. Kissinger Office Files and the National Security Council Institutional Files.

Also released are around 4,800 pages of documents from the White House Central Files, Name Files. This system was used for routine materials filed alphabetically by the name of the correspondent. Included in the release are files on Mark Felt (Deep Throat), Robert Byrd, Bob Hope, Elvis Presley, Ronald Reagan, Richard Cheney, and Frank Sinatra.

In addition, there are approximately 83,000 pages of White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files, and White House Press Office Files. The files contain materials created by the Press Office for distribution to the media including White House press releases and press conference transcripts.

Finally, 25,000 pages of documents from Records of Temporary Committees, Commissions, and Boards, Records of the Cabinet Committee on Education are now available. The Cabinet Committee on Education served as a Federal Government point of contact for states undergoing school desegregation.

The Nixon Presidential Library and Museum is one of 12 Presidential libraries operated and maintained by the National Archives.

Griefers, Terrorists, and Second Life

Whereas the first impetus for this blog post arose from a December/January 2008 article in CSO: The Resource for Security Executives I found out that a stimulating discussion about the topic went back to at least 4 March 2005. At that time an online discussion reported on a griefer, the term for a player in an online computer game who deliberately sets out to discomfort other players.

Where have I been? This is a new term for me to learn; I know it now.

The consensus of the 2005 discussion is that griefers are more dissimilar than familiar to real-world terrorists, yet, they do share specific aspects in common. Both types seek to disrupt, annoy, and harass legitimate authority. To be annoying they ferret out weaknesses, loopholes, and the cracks in security provisions.

Witness the online blogger Will Wright's statement in September 2004:

We’ve been talking to people in homeland security that want to know if we could simulate a terrorist network. I keep telling them they don’t have to; they just need to come study the griefers in a multi-player game, because they are exactly that. They always figure out how to get by every little loophole, they hide in the cracks, they respond very fast to whatever new policies you put in place. It is like the perfect simulator for a terrorist organization. So the answer is yes, unfortunately.

The online discussion from 2005 pointing out differences between griefers and terrorists may be missing the point.

The main point is not that there is something in common about the goals or the motives or the moral worth of griefers or terrorists. Rather the key insight is that there is a common meta-strategy to the way both terrorists operate and griefers and gangs operate. All of the above exploit loopholes in the rules and finding unanticipated ways to do damage to the system. They seek soft targets with the capacity to swarm and attack inter-dependently, in particular against targets such as buildings and game servers.

It is to this latter point that David F. Ronfeldt, senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, addresses in "Al Qaeda and its affiliates: A global tribe waging segmental warfare?"

Ronfeldt states:

Continuing to view Al Qaeda mainly as a cutting–edge, post–modern phenomenon of the information age misses a crucial point: Al Qaeda is using the information age to revitalize and project ancient patterns of tribalism on a global scale.

And most fascinatingly, Al Qaeda and its ilk combine tribalism and cutting-edge technology to advance their cause and to disrupt network activity. Not surprisingly, the earlier discussions of disruptions occurred in Second Life activities. The online site offers all sorts of attractive possibilities to griefers, and terrorists: soft targets, vulnerabilities, and the possibility of anonymous, difficult to trace, online meetings but then possibly coupled with physical, real-world swarm attacks by dedicated jihadists.

Philadelphia (Wi-Fi) Freedom

Philadelphia schools, at least to all 268 public ones, may be reaping Wi-Fi benefits but the road has not been totally smooth.

The schools benefit from a $40 million Wi-Fi project that puts wireless Internet access within reach of 170,000 students, and an upgrade to the new 802.11n technology is being contemplated for next fall.

The Wi-Fi deployment is considered one of the largest Wi-Fi projects in the world, according to Meru Networks, and their associates, Avaya Incorporated.

The 802.11 a/b/g specifications have been key in providing "functional 1 to 1" access of computing to all students using mobile laptop carts.

The Wi-Fi foundation allows for a bandwidth intensive online curriculum, a curriculum management system, digital libraries, and a parent-teacher collaboration portal.

Avaya originally worked with Proxim Wireless Corporation but the pairing did not go smoothly which led to Meru's technology eventually being employed.

Similar Wi-Fi projects have stalled nationwide which has led to speculation that not all of these municipal projects will come to fruition. Philadelphia's has been less than rosy but it is a project whose time has come. Unless Rust Belt cities such as Philadelphia implement such projects, it will be passed over in the global economy.

A Positive Outlook on Iran

So they didn't have a nuclear program after all.

This is good news. Now, Russia and China can cooperate, and control if necessary, Iran. The U.S. can let well enough alone, Iran's loose cannon of a President can derail his support amongst Iranian youth and Iran can slowly fade off the screen.

It won't happen but it is pleasant to consider.

The biggest threat from Iran is in conventional weapons, gun-running, and embarrassing itself in world affairs, but, we already knew that.

This is business as usual.

I find that it is a relief to discover that Iran did not develop nuclear weapons for some time. In the rush to laugh at Bush the world can breathe a bit easier and continue to oppose the Iranian regime.

MIT: Opening a Satellite Campus in Asia?

MIT has finally placed their entire curriculum online following an initiative in this direction that began with OpenCourseWare in 2001. MIT has 1,800 undergraduate and graduate courses now freely available.

On the site there are syllabuses, lecture notes from about 15,000 lectures, about 9,000 homework assignments, 900 exams, reference materials, and when available, video lectures.

An estimated 35 million people have accessed the course materials.

Even more interesting is to consider where the traffic is being generated from: China, India, and South Korea, in fact 60% of users are from outside the U.S.

Since the MIT initiative began the project is suggestive of the openness with which leading Universities are approaching the creation and dissemination of knowledge. Moreover, the brains that want to tap American knowledge arise from Asia.

The openness of MIT is quite a sea change from the restricted 19th century notion of exclusive, restrictive knowledge as practiced by elites. And importantly, those most hungry for the knowledge, in Asia, are indicative that the balance of world power is shifting Eastward.

Three Essential Works on Terrorism

Michael Scheuer, Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, and Thomas P.M. Barnett, The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century, are the three most important books written on contemporary affairs and international terrorism.

In their own way, each frightened and enlightened me in ways that I believe most Americans need to hear. None of them sit well with their opponents and other political ideologies but they share a certain refreshing pragmatism.

No one really knows what to do about terrorism but these three books more than others articulate from a military, intelligence, and political science perspective how to understand Islamo-fascism, the most important issue of our day.