Khaled Hosseini - Kabul's splendid son

MoJo Interview:

Khaled Hosseini's fortunes have risen as his native Afghanistan's have sunk. His 2003 debut novel, The Kite Runner, an engrossing tale of friendship, betrayal, and redemption, sold more than 6 million copies and was turned into a feature film. His second Afghan-centric best-seller, A Thousand Splendid Suns, is also headed to the silver screen. But the 44-year-old novelist's greatest stroke of luck came decades ago. When he was 11, he moved to Paris, where his diplomat father had been posted. Two years later, in 1978, communists assassinated Afghanistan's president, triggering a cycle of war and upheaval that continues today. Hosseini's family eventually settled in California, where he became a doctor. Now a full-time writer and goodwill envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, he is skeptical that sending more US troops can bring his homeland back from the brink. "We're not going to win this war with bullets and guns," he says. "There has to be a broader plan."

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US Army’s spy on citizens guidelines document leaked

Spying on anti-war protestors: US Army Concept of Operations for Police Intelligence Operations, 4 Mar 2009

May 5, 2009
Summary

The document presents a 60 page For Official Use Only intelligence manual from the US Army's Military Police School. Among other matters, the document reveals that the US Army is using structuring tricks to work around intelligence oversight rules that would normally prevent domestic spying and hoarding of data on anti-war protesters (bolding by WikiLeaks):

A CONUS [CONtinental UNited States] based PIO [military Police Intelligence Operations] network that is integrated with local, county, regional, state and federal, law enforcement entities will ensure a federated approach to enable a unified effort for defense support to civil authorities...[including] data exchange...[and the] production of [travel] blacklists...

An [intelligence] fusion cell located within the garrison staff provides a unique service that can address the complexities of the threat to a military community and installation and be an asset to the garrison and local civilian community. It has the ability to work closely with multiple local, federal, and DoD agencies. It does not have constraints that are emplaced on MI [Military Intelligence] activities within the US, because it operates under the auspice and oversight of the police discipline and standards. At the garrison level, the fusion cell is static (non‐deploying) which provides a level of continuity that allows for in‐depth institutional knowledge of threat, physical and social environs, as well as long‐term relationships with local and federal law enforcement agencies. A garrison fusion cell can also be a flexible analytical cell that can grow to form focused, ad hoc, threat‐specific cells to address, prevent or react to a specific hazard.

Vignette: A Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) was preparing to move equipment to a port of embarkation (POE) for deployment. The shipment required the movement of 300 vehicles across eight law enforcement jurisdictions. Based on previous threat fusion expertise, the garrison's force protection (FP) fusion cell was uniquely qualified to be the lead intelligence producer to support the movement. The fusion cell coordinated police information, intelligence and civilian security with over 22 local, federal, and DoD agencies. The fusion cell produced in‐depth analysis of the threat to the SBCT equipment and advised the SBCT and garrison commanders on protection. The coordinated effort gave law enforcement agencies the knowledge to identify and prevent disruptive actions by violent protesters. The operation was considered by Corps leadership to be a watershed event for in‐depth involvement of a garrison‐based FP fusion cell in support of unit deployments. Moreover, the Corps headquarters integrated the fusion cell into other operations where the G2 is constrained by intelligence oversight rules, or there is a need for police information / intelligence assessments and analysis. A fusion cell is valuable when separate data streams, information sources, or other disparate information from multiple organizations must be combined and analyzed in a coherent process to present a common operational picture for a decision maker.

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[ Via: Ignorance Is Futile! ]

Futuristic fashion predictions from the1930s

Amusing predictions by american fashion designers from the 1930s of what the well-dressed man and woman would be wearing in the year 2000.
www.itnsource.com

[ Via Jejebel ]

Clay Shirky - "Here Comes Everybody"

Clay Shirky, author of the just released "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations" speaking at Harvard Law School's Austin Hall on Feb. 28,2008 hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.

Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault - 'Human Nature: Justice vs. Power'

"A 1971 debate between Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault on the origins of human nature, and the relative merits of innatist theories and learned paradigms. Somewhat heavy on philosophical jargon, this is nonetheless an intensely interesting conversation between two highly intelligent and thoughtful thinkers.

One in a series of lectures in the International Philosopher's Project, this debate was originally entitled 'Human Nature: Justice vs. Power'. This clip is from Dutch television, hence the Dutch subtitles, although the video itself is in English and French."
-- beautifulcynic