In the current Congress, there are bills pending that would create a commission to come up with ideas for faster FOIA processing. Readers of my blog know that I have been critical of this bill as yet another way to delay any FOIA reform. I've argued that there are plenty of ideas already currently floating out there. I believe taking those ideas, along with a few days of congressional oversight hearings to solicit other opinions, could give Congress plenty of fodder to create an actual bill that would implement faster FOIA processing now rather than wait for a "commission" to come up with these same ideas.
So putting my money where my mouth is, I have presented ideas to create faster FOIA processing in FOIA agencies. I've presented these in a series of four posts on my blog, but I'm condensing and updating them here in one article...
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Scott Hodes: How to Fix FOIA
At llrx.com:
Mohammed Taqi on CIA Support for Islamism
Writing in Pakistan's Daily Times, he cites Ian Johnson's new book on the CIA-Nazi-Islamist nexus described in A Mosque in Munich, to support his call for a purge of the Muslim Brotherhood from Pakistani Mosques:
In his most recent interview on June 5, 2010 aired on the National Public Radio (NPR), Ian Johnson made a shocking revelation, saying: “Shortly after 9/11, there was this desire to cut all ties with Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and even to prosecute them. The fundamental problem with that effort was that it tried to link them directly to terrorism, which is really not so much what the Muslim Brotherhood does.For more on the story, David Shribman's laudatory review in The Boston Globe can be found here.
“The Muslim Brotherhood creates the worldview that can lead to terrorism, the milieu where that can flourish. So, after these prosecutions failed, the Muslim Brotherhood re-established itself, and by the second term of the Bush administration, there were already very clear efforts where brotherhood groups in Europe are being clearly cultivated for US foreign policy aims.
“So, much of the rhetoric that you hear today is similar to what we were saying in the 1950s: that Islam is essentially a tool that we can use for foreign policy purposes. I think this is kind of — this is a fundamental problem in how we look at this religion. It has come back to haunt us again and again, but we continue to make the same mistake.”
Considering the admixture of an aggressive political Islam, analysts unable or unwilling to propose foreign policy alternatives to reliance on Riyadh and a series of governments relying on such analysts, the perpetual US confusion about the Islamic world and its dynamics, especially the militancy, is not surprising.
Ian Johnson records that on the eve of his meeting with the Muslim Brothers, the gist of Eisenhower’s message, as reported by his aides, was: “The president thought we should do everything to emphasise the ‘holy war’ aspect.” If this is still the attitude that the US administration is going to take towards the Muslim Brotherhood, its various incarnations and its Saudi patrons, this might be the third and probably an insurmountable hurdle for everyday Muslim-Americans, before they can take back the mosque pulpit.
Wall Street Journal: US-Connected Bank Implicated in Kyrgyzstan Crisis
By the Kyrgyz government, according to today's article by Alan Cullison and Kadyr Toktogulov:
Kyrgyz prosecutors want to try Maksim Bakiyev for abuse of office, misuse of government funds and money laundering, a prosecutor's spokesman said Tuesday.According to the article, the former US senators associated with the bank are Bob Dole (R., Kan.) (resigned), J. Bennett Johnston (D., La.), and Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (D.,Mich.).
While details of the charges are sketchy, one involves the younger Mr. Bakiyev's relationship with Asia Universal Bank, a Kyrgyz bank that was advised by U.S. consultants APCO Worldwide and Kroll Associates and whose board members included three former U.S. senators. Prosecutors allege that the younger Mr. Bakiyev steered to AUB part of a $300 million Russian state loan to Kyrgyzstan, and personally benefitted from it, the spokesman said.
Critics of the Kyrgyz government were suspicious of Maksim Bakiyev's relationship with AUB, which under his father's rule grew from a little-known bank to the country's most influential financial institution. AUB shuffled a large amount of money out of the country when the government collapsed. On the night of the coup, April 7, officials at AUB approved international wire transfers that they say were requested by AUB clients totalling about $170 million, or more than 10% of the country's banking assets, according to central bank officials.
Kyrgyzstan's new leaders say they suspect a chunk of that money was the plundered wealth of President Bakiyev and his inner circle. They have asked for the U.S. to help recover those funds. The U.S. Embassy in Bishkek said the U.S. is "looking into" the request. The Kyrgyz government has now nationalized AUB and is dividing it into two banks because of what the government calls an illegal acquisition.
The new government has also accused the U.S. of enriching Maksim Bakiyev through fuel supply deals. It says a fuel-supply contractor, Mina Corp., a privately-owned company based in Gibraltar, had lucrative U.S. government contracts to supply fuel to the U.S. base. The government says Mina, which is operated by a former U.S. military attaché, used smaller delivery companies, that were allegedly controlled by Maksim Bakiyev, and funneled as much as $70 million a year to them.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Moscow Times: Kyrgyzstan Russian Zone of Responsibility
Writing in The Moscow Times, Fyodor Lukyanov says Russia must act in Kyrgyzstan:
The post-Soviet world is entering a dangerous new phase. The former Soviet republics have been left to cope with their problems by themselves. The regional efforts that various world powers tried to launch for various reasons in the 2000s did not work. Now it even sounds odd to speak of Russia having a zone of “privileged interests.” If anything, Russia has a “zone of responsibility.” The former Soviet republics have been left to cope with their problems by themselves. If Moscow does not find a way to respond to challenges such as Kyrgyzstan, any later claims it might make to a special role in the region will be unconvincing. It is also unlikely that any other world powers will express a desire to assume the heavy burden of responsibility for the region.
Peace Corps Hires Kyrgyz Gunmen
According to Registan.net, the US Government's "Peace Corps" has hired Kyrgyz gunmen to protect volunteers during the current violence in Kyrgyzstan.
As I mentioned in my post about Linda Polman's new book War Games, she explains the reasons for this horrible phenomenon (even argues "humanitarian" NGOs would have paid Nazis during WWII if they operated under the same system as today) lie in the underlying immorality of NGOs and Western governments.
Meanwhile, NPR posted this account:
It seems that the Peace Corps made an excellent decision in hiring local Kyrgyz gunmen to rescue the volunteer from their besieged building, especially considering that the car was checked for Uzbeks at a roadblock. A Blackhawk full of US Marines or Rangers probably could have rescued them, but not as quietly as the locals did. That’s scary stuff, but of course almost nothing compared to what’s happening to some locals.As I argued in my Orbis articles, NGOs and groups like the Peace Corps must inevitably wind up supporting warlords, mafia dons, and terrorists. This case is obviously neither the first, nor the last. Of course, the Kyrgyz gunmen are the ones terrorizing and killing the Uzbek minority fleeing for their lives. Your US tax dollars at work...
As I mentioned in my post about Linda Polman's new book War Games, she explains the reasons for this horrible phenomenon (even argues "humanitarian" NGOs would have paid Nazis during WWII if they operated under the same system as today) lie in the underlying immorality of NGOs and Western governments.
Meanwhile, NPR posted this account:
Over two days, ten aid workers gathered in safe houses on both sides of the conflict. When our food ran low, neighbors smuggled us bread and tea and refused to be compensated. But others sent rocks through our windows and demanded bribes. And all the while, bands of young, ethnic Kyrgyz, enraged by rumors of students having been raped, terrorized the streets around us. They ransacked Uzbek apartments. They torched markets and restaurants. They burned vehicles, piled them into barricades, and shot at those trying to escape the city. By night, gunfire and screaming mixed with thunderclaps.UPDATE: Judging from to R.B. Moreno's blog post, the Peace Corps appears to be in full cover-up mode:
Hired drivers, wearing bandanas, brandishing a hatchet and a rifle, were hired to ferry Moreno and his colleagues to an airfield. For 20 minutes – “20 long minutes,” he writes –- they idled, awaiting directions.
Update (5:30 PM, June 15, 2010) -- The U.S. Peace Corps has requested that this post be removed until further notice.Memo to Peace Corps HQ: That's sure making a case for transparency, open government, and the public's right to know! I wish someone in Congress would ask the Peace Corps how much they paid the Kyrgyz gunmen, and from which funding allocation the money has been taken...plus, of course, why were volunteers not pulled out before the violence erupted? Also, since R.B. Moreno was sent by the US Government to teach "journalism"...doesn't it set a bad example to make him publicly show that his dispatches are censored by the US Government? Kind of looks like the Soviet system, which we were supposedly trying to change, IMHO.
Twitter Hashtag for Journalism "Reinvention" Pow-Wow is #FTC
BTW, I'm not there, following it on Twitter, instead. After reading the list of participants, I'm glad I stayed home. IMHO, the FTC is appears unashamed to 'stack the deck' with newspaper industry and public broadcasting corporate spokesmodels...
Monday, June 14, 2010
Russia Readying Kyrgyzstan Action
Acccording to the London Times:
The Kremlin edged closer last night to military intervention in Kyrgyzstan as the number of people killed in ethnic violence spiralled and as many as 100,000 refugees flooded neighbouring Uzbekistan.
An emergency meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) — the Russian-dominated group of former Soviet states — said that it was sending helicopters and lorries to help the Kyrgyz Government to quell fighting between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that has raged for four days in southern Kyrgyzstan. At least 124 people have died and 1,500 have been wounded, although some witnesses believe the number of deaths is far higher.
“This is extremely dangerous for this region and for this reason it is necessary to do everything possible to put an end to such acts,” President Medvedev of Russia said, after the meeting in Moscow.
Is BP British Petroleum?
It was created by the British government specifically to serve British interests.
From the official history posted on the BP website:
Churchill was a believer. He thought Britain needed a dedicated oil supply, and he argued the case in Parliament, urging his colleagues to “look out upon the wide expanse of the oil regions of the world!” Only the British-owned Anglo-Persian Oil Company, he said, could protect British interests.
The resolution passed resoundingly, and the UK government became a major shareholder in the company. Churchill had ended Anglo-Persian’s cash crisis, and no one had long to quietly ponder the long-term implications of a company entwining its financial interests with a political entity.
Two weeks later, an assassin killed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Six weeks after that, Germany attacked France. The Great War had begun. By its end, war without oil would be unimaginable.
Despite its name, the British Petroleum brand was originally created by a German firm as a way of marketing its products in Britain. During the war, the British government seized the company’s assets, and the Public Trustee sold them to Anglo-Persian in 1917.
With that, Anglo-Persian had an instant distribution network in the UK, including 520 depots, 535 railway tank wagons, 1,102 road vehicles, four barges and 650 horses.
BTW, according to press accounts, the British government released the Pan Am 103 bomber in exchange for a BP oil deal with Libya--breaking a promise to the US government that he would never be let go. I suggest the US now ask the British to get him back and turn him over to US authorities for trial...
UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal notes BP's Persian connection in today's web post.
Robert Picard: FTC Staff Wrongly Claim Newspaper Losses in Journalism "Reinvention" Document
The media economist and blogger says most newspapers still make money. So why "save" a profitable business with average margins of 12%? (ht Matt Creamer, BreakingMedia)
The FTC’s staff ignores the fact that most newspapers are profitable (the average operating profit in 2009 was 12%), but that their corporate parents are unprofitable because of high overhead costs and ill-advised debt loads taken on when advertising revenues were peaked at all time highs. It also fails to make adequate distinction between longer term trends affecting newspapers and the effects of the current recession. The staff thus blends the two together to give a skewed picture of the mid- to long-term health of the industry.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Meet Israel's Only Friend: Geert Wilders
From the Jerusalem Post, this interview with the Dutch MP:
Geert Wilders, who is demanding a halt to immigration from Muslim countries as the centerpiece of his campaign for the Dutch prime ministership, has hailed Israel for “fighting the jihad” and warned that “the West is next” if Israel is unsuccessful.
“Israel is the canary in the coal mine,” Wilders said in a recent telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post, ahead of Wednesday’s elections in the Netherlands. “The jihad against Israel isn’t against Israel only. It’s against the whole West.”
A year ago, Wilders’s PVV (Party for Freedom) was scoring 28 percent in opinion polls and appeared to have a realistic prospect of winning the elections. It has declined since then, however, he said, as economic issues have become increasingly dominant.
“There’s not a big chance that I’ll become prime minister,” he said.
Nonetheless, the PVV is expected to double its current nine seats in the 150-member parliament, and front-runner Mark Rutte, of the People’s Party for Freedom of Democracy (VVD), said this week that he was not ruling out Wilders’s party as a coalition partner.
Huffington Post: FTC Journalism Scheme "Preposterous"
Glad Arianna didn't drink the FTC Kool-Aid. Here's what Gary Shapiro, writing on behalf of the consumer electronics industry, had to say in the Huffington Post:
Every now and then, Washington advances a policy idea that is so preposterous one would think that medical marijuana has seeped into the corridors of our government buildings and altered our lawmaker's perceptions. A recent Federal Trade Commission proposal to save newspapers and local news providers by implementing a five percent tax on consumer electronics products, cell phones and Internet service is classic absurdity.MORE from Rob Port...bloglawonline...and econsultancy.
Would you donate nine bucks to your local newspaper when you purchase an iPod? Or, could you spare 15 dollars the next time you buy an Xbox to give to your local broadcast news station? The FTC proposal suggests the only way to save these media dinosaurs, many of which have failed to innovate for years, is to add a tax to the consumer that would flow to these media outlets.
Why are local news outlets in such dire straits? Because they let the innovation movement pass them by. Any newspaper could have gotten on board earlier and used new technologies, but they were comfortable and complacent. Most news outlets sat back and let Google, Craigslist, and other online entrepreneurs create innovations instead of innovating themselves.
So now, these news businesses want to tax America's most innovative industry in order to support its least. Put another way, they want to tax the owners and customers of the Huffington Post, the Drudge Report, iPads, Androids and other digital innovators to subsidize an industry whose 2010 business plan involves cutting down trees, slathering them with ink, and hauling them around the city on trucks.
Imagine if this had occurred with other historic technology shifts. If this were the 1600s, Guttenberg would be taxed to give money to the monks. In the 1800s, Edison would be taxed to pay whale oil processors. A century ago car producers would be taxed to support horse and buggy makers...
Arianna Huffington on Government 2.0
When it comes to information and technology, Arianna is very un-FTC, at least according to her latest post:
Watching the news, it's easy to conclude that "Yes We Can" has been replaced with, "Actually, On Second Thought... We Probably Can't." We can't plug the damn hole, we can't get rid of too-big-to-fail banks, we can't pass an adequate foreclosures bill, we can't pass an adequate jobs bill. The list goes on and on.
Nevertheless, there are reasons for optimism -- even when it comes to the way our government is being run. One of these reasons is Tim O'Reilly, the tech guru CEO of O'Reilly Media. Among other things, five years ago O'Reilly coined the term Web 2.0. And now he's at the forefront of a movement to apply the concept to the way our democracy is run: Government 2.0.
I talked with O'Reilly at last week's Personal Democracy Forum in New York, a don't-miss annual gathering focused on the intersection between government and technology.
We talked about the need to create a new relationship between We the People and those we elect to represent us -- and the crucial role technology can play in it. For O'Reilly, Government 2.0 isn't about every office in D.C. having its own website and posting reams of data. It's about, as he put it in a blog post-cum-manifesto, "a new compact between government and the public, in which government puts in place mechanisms for services that are delivered not by government, but by private citizens."
It's about government as a facilitator, laying the foundation for innovation in self-governance. It's "government as a platform."
Is Bin Laden in Iran?
Al Sharq Al-Awsat says Al Qaeda might be planning its next attack with Teheran's support:
Who knows whether or not Bin Laden is actually in Iran? What’s certain – and this was previously revealed by Asharq Al-Awsat – is that some of Bin Laden’s children are in Iran and the story that is most fresh in people’s memories is that of Iman Bin Laden who left Tehran for Syria after great effort [was exerted]. Today, reports indicate that some Al Qaeda leaders have gone back to moving freely to and from Iran.Let's see, Obama's national security strategy declares that the US is at war with Al Qaeda and its affiliates...so if Iran is an affiliate, what does that mean for US policy towards Teheran? Or, to put it another way, what does it mean about the credibility of announced US policies?
The reports indicate that Iran has begun to review its [political] calculations in anticipation of an outbreak of military confrontation with the US or Israel, or even in the case that sanctions are imposed upon it. The danger lies in the fact that this view is supported by many Arab and Western sources to whom I have spoken over the past few months; they all believe that the Iranian military threats are for media consumption whilst the real danger lies in the possibility of Iran using terrorist operations and sleeper cells here and there. This might explain some of the news reports that come out every now and then in our region about the existence of cells, or Iranian spy networks; however many Arab countries, Gulf states in particular, seek to downplay the news in order to avoid escalation with Iran.
What confirms the danger and seriousness of the situation is what an informed Iranian source told the newspaper on Thursday. The source stated that Iran actually used Al Qaeda in both Iraq and Afghanistan, as the informed source said that Tehran’s use of Al Qaeda elements “comes within the framework of Iran playing all the cards it can that could lead to harming America in the region and making it leave.” The source added, “The Iranians used Al Qaeda skillfully in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because of the current situation, it is likely that Iran will change its movements towards Al Qaeda in order to further benefit from it, perhaps in other regions.”
This matter is certainly understandable if we remember that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. However the burning question is to what extent are we prepared for all that?
A Miracle in Israel: New Offshore Gas Field Holds Estimated 16 Trillion Cubic Feet
According to this AP report:
A U.S. energy company predicted last week that Israel will have enough natural gas to export to Europe and Asia from the offshore field it is developing. The Houston, Texas-based Noble Energy said the Leviathan natural gas field may hold up to 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Noble raised estimates for the neighboring Tamar field to 8.4 trillion, a 33 percent increase. The production is expected to start in 2012.Hope it is true. IMHO, The world treats countries with oil and gas better than those without...
Daniel Pipes on Turkey
Daniel Pipes says Turkey may have overreached by sponsoring the recent Islamist flotilla attack on Israel:
If Ankara's irresponsible behavior has worrisome implications for the Middle East and Islam, it also has a mitigating aspect. Turks have been at the forefront of developing what I call Islamism 2.0, the popular, legitimate, and non-violent version of what Ayatollah Khomeini and Osama bin Laden tried to achieve forcefully via Islamism 1.0. I have predicted that Erdogan's insidious form of Islamism "may threaten civilized life even more than does 1.0's brutality."
But his abandonment of earlier modesty and caution suggests that Islamists cannot help themselves, that the thuggishness inherent to Islamism must eventually emerge, that the 2.0 variant must revert to its 1.0 origins. As Martin Kramer posits, "the further Islamists are from power, the more restrained they are, as well as the reverse." This means it might be the case that Islamism presents a less formidable opponent, and for two reasons.
First, Turkey hosts the most sophisticated Islamist movement in the world, one that includes not just the AKP but the Fethullah Gülen mass movement, the Adnan Oktar propaganda machine, and more. AKP's new bellicosity has caused dissension; Gülen, for example, publicly condemned the "Free Gaza" farce, suggesting a debilitating internal battle over tactics could take place.
Second, if once only a small band of analysts recognized Erdogan's Islamist outlook, this fact has now become self-evidently obvious for the whole world to see. Erdogan has gratuitously discarded his carefully crafted image of a pro-Western "Muslim democrat," making it far easier to treat him as theTehran-Damascus ally that he is.
As Davutoglu seeks, Turkey has returned to the center of the Middle East and the umma. But it no longer deserves full NATO membership and its opposition parties deserve support.
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