Public Intelligence Blog

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Our new research intern Lovisa Lönegren joined the staff in January and is already busy answering questions from around the world regarding proposals for the 2012 Right Livelihood Awards.

Anybody can propose a person or an organization (to whom they are not closely related), so if you know someone who is worthy the Award, please let her know.

We are exited to receive many interesting proposals before the deadline on March 1, 2012.

Please follow our guidelines and feel free to ask Lovisa if something seems unclear.

Berto Jongman

The Iran War: Who will decide?

By Amir Oren

Ha’aretz, 5 February 2012

The War of Independence, the Six-Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the Iran War. That’s the sequence Defense Minister Ehud Barak laid out at the Herzliya Conference on Thursday in a speech on Israel’s fateful decision.

All for the better, it has been suggested, that behind the wheel as successor to David Ben-Gurion in 1948, Levi Eshkol in 1967 and Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan in 1973 is military leader Barak and his assistant on prime ministerial matters, Benjamin Netanyahu. Barak has been quoted as saying, ignoring the law and the cabinet, that “at the end of the day, when the military command looks up, it sees us – the minister of defense and the prime minister. When we look up, we see nothing but the sky above us.”

The immunity zone that Iran is constantly moving closer towards is meant to limit the possibility of a strike against its fortified and dispersed nuclear infrastructure. The Israeli argument is a global innovation in the theoretical justification for preemptive wars. The intended victim usually strikes preemptively when hostile preparations to act are discovered.

The precedents of Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007 teach us that the desire for wider security margins made Israel attack while a nuclear capability was still being acquired. Barak’s comments suggest an argument for acting even earlier, at the phase of developing a capability to acquire a capability.

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David Isenberg

Open Access to Scientific Information

By Adrian Janes

Source: House of Commons Library (UK)

Overview:

Open Access (OA) to scientific publications could provide more effective dissemination of research and thus increase its impact.

The costs and benefits of different models of providing OA to publications need to be considered if a comprehensive shift to OA is to be financially sustainable.

OA to research data could enable others to validate findings and re-use data to advance knowledge and promote innovation.

Sharing data openly requires effective data management and archiving. It also presents challenges relating to protecting intellectual property and privacy.

Expanding access to scientific information requires researchers, librarians, higher education institutions, funding agencies and publishers, to continue to work together.

+ Direct link to document from this page (PDF; 351 KB)

See Also:

1992 E3i: Ethics, Ecology, Evolution, & intelligence (An Alternative Paradigm)

1992 AIJ Fall ‘New Paradigm” and Avoiding Future Failures

1992 Steele (US) From School House to White House

Venessa Miemis

Reflection: The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge

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I. The Field: Knowledge in Computerized Societies

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The nature of knowledge itself is shifting from being an end in itself to a commodity meant to be repackaged and redistributed. In order to be valuable, learning must be able to be reformatted into these packets of information in computer language, so that they can be sent through that channel of communication. Today, we increasingly hear the words “knowledge economy” and “information society” to describe the era we are entering. As was always the case, knowledge is power. Now, in an increasingly complex world, those with the ability to sort through the vast amounts of information and repackage it to give it meaning will be the winners. Technologies continue to solve problems that were formerly the source of power struggles between nations (i.e. the need for cheap labor is diminished by the mechanization of industry, the need for raw materials is reduced by advances in alternative energy solutions), and so control of information is most likely to become the 21st century’s definition of power.

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2. The Problem: Legitimation

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The definition of knowledge is determined by intertwining forces of power, authority, and government. Leotard draws a parallel between the process of legitimation in politics and of those in science: both require an authority figure or “legislator” to determine whether a statement is acceptable to enter the round of discourse for consideration. In an increasingly transparent society, this leads to new questions:

David Swanson

15 Things More Important Than Newt’s Sex Life on the Moon

1. A war on Iran could kill us all. President Obama said in the State of the Union: “America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal.  But a peaceful resolution of this issue is s till possible . . . if Iran changes course.” So, unless Iran, which the Secretary of Defense says is not developing a nuclear weapon, ceases developing a nuclear weapon, we’re going to war.  Sound familiar?  Ever seen this movie before?  Actually, we’ve seen it in every single war ever fought by any nation.  The best defense against the lies of the Department of Defense is good preparation.  Read this book: http://WarIsALie.org

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Use these resources: http://DontAttackIran.org

Join or create an event on February 4: http://worldcantwait.net

2. Occupation of DC under threat. The Park Service plans to try to remove all tents from both DC occupations (Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square) at noon on Monday, January 30th. Be there. Be nonviolent.  Be determined.  Be relentless.

Rise like Lions after slumber: In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew: Which in sleep had fallen on you
Ye are many — they are few

3. California could solve healthcare. California has until Tuesday and is two senators away from enacting single-payer healthcare.  This is far more significant that anything that has been done at the national level for healthcare.  This solves the problem in one state and creates a model for the other 49.  You can help: http://warisacrime.org/node/60764

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4. Corporate personhood is on the defensive.  The Montana Supreme Court has refused to comply with Citizens United.  Citie s and states are taking action.  Stronger bills are being introduced in Congress all the time.  The latest is HJRes 100.  Rallies were just held in over 100 towns and cities.  Join this movement: http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5236

5. They’re raising military spending and calling it “cuts.” The supposed cuts in all the headlines are cuts to dream budgets, leaving actual increases.  Small but real cuts would result from following the law after the Super Committee’s failure (remember them?).  But bills in both houses would block all actual cuts to the military, and President Obama agrees with that agenda.  This will mean severe cuts to education, transportation, and — as Obama indicated in his State of the Union speech — to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. http://warisacrime.org/node/60747

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6.  New classic book on peace just out. An amazing new book that you will treasure has just been published.  It is first-person stories of war and peace and activism from all over the world, from victims, refugees, journalists, lawyers, and participants in numerous wars.  Every story is personal and moving.  There is not a drop of corporate media disinterestedness in the book.  You may know some of the authors and now you’ll know them better.  It’s 600 pages but you’ll be sorry when you reach the end. http://www.amazon.com/Why-Peace-Marc-Guttman/dp/0984980202

7. Guess who says the anthrax attacks were pinned on the wrong guy (again)? The Department of Justice. Anybody else, and Obama would have charged them with “espionage”.  http://warisacrime.org/node/60765

8. We’re re-occupying the Philippines, by jingo! On the plus side, we have not yet been told that this will benefit “our little brown brothers” (whether they like it or not). http://warisacrime.org/node/60746

9. Prevent Fukushima in Vermont. A Fukushima-style nuclear power plant in Vermont legally must shut down, but in reality is up and running. We can close it. http://warisacrime.org/node/60745

10. They hate us for our bases.  As in many other places around the world, in Japan and Korea, people are risking their lives to resist U.S. military base construction. Japan: http://warisacrime.org/node/60718 — Korea: http://warisacrime.org/node/60743

11. Torture lawyer John Yoo badly loses debate.  Professor Yoo agreed to debate a sane person, with predictable but still satisfying result: http://warisacrime.org/node/60738

12. The State of the Union speech only sounded good if you were screaming in terror.  http://warisacrime.org/node/60727

13. United National Antiwar Coalition Conference. Don’t miss this! https://nationalpeaceconference.org

14. Occupy Spring! The National Occupation of Washington DC starts on March 30, 2012. http://nowdc.org

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15. No Immunity for Mortgage Fraudsters! The Obama Administration has been working on a mortgage fraud settlement that itself amounts to fraud, but attorneys general in several states are pushing back. Obama’s speeches stress fairness and equality, but a settlement granting immunity to big banks is not fair. Robosigning and other fraudulent practices are ongoing.  The White House is offering the banks a plea bargain in the middle of a crime spree.  Attorneys general in Delaware, New York, Massachusetts, California, and other states are pushing in the right direction. Tell leading state attorneys general not to settle for less than an adequate settlement. http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5322

http://warisacrime.org/content/upcoming-events

YARC YARC

Scientists Cure Cancer, But No One Takes Notice

Canadian researchers find a simple cure for cancer, but major pharmaceutical companies are not interested.

Researchers at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada have cured cancer last week, yet there is a little ripple in the news or in TV. It is a simple technique using very basic drug. The method employs dichloroacetate, which is currently used to treat metabolic disorders. So, there is no concern of side effects or about their long term effects.

This drug doesn’t require a patent, so anyone can employ it widely and cheaply compared to the costly cancer drugs produced by major pharmaceutical companies.

Read full article with significant graphic.

Jon Lebkowsky

JOHO: Messages from the Dark

At “JOHO the Blog,” David Weinberger has a simple and very cool summary of the meaning of yesterday’s SOPA-induced blackout. “This is our Internet. We built it. We built it for us, not for you. We get to turn off the lights, not you.” Yes, indeed. It took a long time for the the Internet to smell like money to those folks who like that smell more than they like the smell of creativity, innovation, fellowship, commons, etc. Now it’s a platform for all media in digital formats that are easily replicated, therefore distribution is hard to control. Much of what flows across the Internet is freely shared by its creators, and there’s also channels for media that people pay for (like Netflix). A system that facilitates all that sharing, along with a high degree of interactivity, also makes it easy to do the natural sort of sharing that peopel will inherently do. Content providers could spend less time figuring out how to stop sharing, and more time figuring out how to build a business model that works in a social/sharing environment.  People who invest time and money in media creation and production have a right to charge for it, but we need to rethink how that works in the 21st century networked world.

Four messages from the dark

The black that covered so many sites yesterday spoke well. I think there were four messages.

First, This is our Internet. We built it. We built it for us, not for you. We get to turn off the lights, not you.

Second, we are better custodians of culture than are culture’s merchants because we understand that culture is what we have in common. We feel pain every time something is held back from this Commons.

Third, just as we can make someone famous rather than having to passively accept the celebrities you foist upon us, we can make an idea politically potent. Going dark was the self-assertion with which political engagement begins.

Fourth, there’s a growing “we” on the Internet. It is not as inclusive as we think, it’s far more diverse than we imagine, and it’s far less egalitarian than we should demand. But so was the “we” in “We the People.” The individual acts of darkness are the start of the We we need to nurture.

This web site honors Dr. Martin Luther King by pointing to specific links beginning with the first in isolation: he was assassinated by his own government. Truth & Reconciliation are the order of the day, but the reconciliation cannot begin until the truth is known to the full public.

Review: An Act of State–The Execution of Martin Luther King, New and Updated Edition

Review: Al On America

Review: Improper behavior–when misconduct is good for society

Review: Nobodies–Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy

Review: Public Philosophy–Essays on Morality in Politics

Review: Teaching to Transgress–Education as the Practice of Freedom

Review: The Power of the Powerless–Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe

Robert Steele: Citizen in Search of Integrity (Full Text Online for Google Translate)

See Also:

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Bojan Radej

Primitive simplicity of politics against social complexity

Bojan Radej – Slovenian Evaluation Society – Ljubljana, Slovenia, EU

January 12, 2012

Recognizing that the society has become complex suggests that the truth about social issues, public interest or common good is not a single truth, but rather that there are a variety of well-founded and equally valid truths that must co-exist and be reconciled by human deliberation. Social complexity means there are different views about the most important issues in a society. Socially complex issues share no common denominator; different views must be embraced as in relation rather than in opposition.

Recognition of social complexity—and the impoverished political simplicity no longer adequate to its charter—has important consequences for how we go about understanding of social issues.  This in turn determinates our future aspirations and approach to social struggles regarding how we want to collectively re-construct sociality. Put bluntly, Industrial-Era politics have failed, and new methods must be found to achieve political reconciliation among agonistic perspectives.  There is no more hope for complete unity and consensus in principal social concerns. But these concerns are few and abstract. Everyday life is not lived in abstract world. The matter of everyday life is hybrid, ephemeral and so of “minor importance” to everybody.

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