Blood Donations Needed

Update – Friday, 11/6/09, 8:30 PM:

Blood donations for personnel wounded in the Ft. Hood shooting are being accepted at Scott & White Healthcare’s Blood Center in Temple, TX on Saturday, 11/7 from from 9:00 AM – noon local time and again on Monday, 11/9  starting at 8:00 AM.  All blood types are still needed at this time. No appointment is necessary.

Read the eligibility requirements for blood donation.

Bryan/College Station blood drive: Scott & White’s blood team will be at Texas A&M all next week to accept donations. Area donors in that area are encouraged to donate at that time, as the victims of the will continue to need blood possibly for weeks to come.

Contact Information:

Scott & White Healthcare

2401 S. 31st St.

Temple, TX 76508

Main Phone: 254-724-2111

Blood Center: 254-724-HERO (4376) • 877-724-HERO
Blood Center website

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mHealth Summit: A Summit on Mobile Technologies as a Platform for Health Research and Healthcare Delivery

October 29-30, 2009, Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC

From Reuters:

2009 Inaugural mHealth Summit Brings Together Health, Technology and Policy Communities to Advance Technological Innovation in Global Healthcare

From the event website:

The mHealth Summit, a public-private partnership of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, will focus on mobile technologies as a platform for health research and healthcare delivery.

• Information on the agenda, presentations, and accomodations

About the mHealth Summit

The two-day event will explore the role of biomedical research as the driver for the development of compelling applications based on mobile technology. The Summit will bring together 450 to 600 U.S. and international researchers, technology experts, and policymakers in the public sector, as well as those from academia, industry, and NGOs to:

• Assess current policies regarding mobile health technologies and their use in reducing or eliminating domestic and global health disparities
• Build bridges between the scientific community and mobile technology developers to identify mHealth solutions
• Highlight scientific opportunities and challenges in using mobile technologies to improve public health
• Discuss and craft a vision for the development and use of mobile technologies in the future

The agenda will include several case study tracks, as well as panel discussions that address broad themes related to mobile technologies as tools for research and improving health. The mHealth Summit program committee has announced a call for presentations and is seeking case studies that describe current or completed research projects using mobile technologies to improve research data collection, healthcare delivery, health outcomes, and/or health and science education. All NIH Institutes and Centers are strongly urged to encourage researchers from their intramural and extramural communities to submit presentation abstracts.

Current partnering Institutes and Centers include:

• Fogarty International Center (FIC)
• National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD)
• National Center on Research Resources (NCRR)
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
• National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
• National Library of Medicine (NLM)

Sponsors

The mHealth Summit is sponsored by FNIH in partnership with the NIH, the U.S. State Department, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the United Nations Foundation & Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, and the World Bank. Supporting industry members are Microsoft Research, the Abbott Fund, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer, Inc.

The U.S. NIH (National Institutes of Health) provides additional information on each day’s sessions, and a link to a live RealVideo stream, as well. The free RealMedia player is required to view this stream.

View the mHealth Summit live video stream (Runtime 570 minutes)

From NIH’s website:

Summit Mission
The mission of the mHealth Summit is to explore the use of mobile technologies to improve public health, particularly regarding underserved populations; health research, training, and education applications; and delivery systems, in the U.S. and around the world.

Summit Overview
Mobile technologies have the potential to transform global health care on many fronts, from research and diagnostics to training and preventative interventions. Targeting experts from such diverse fields as medical research, software design, clinical health care, hardware manufacture and network transmission, the summit hopes to spur development and deployment of innovative, practical, affordable and effective solutions to health challenges in underserved and resource-poor populations.
In addition to reviewing current tools and research from a wide spectrum of stakeholders, the summit will foster inter-disciplinary collaboration that could identify entirely new opportunities that team existing mobile-industry companies with emerging public health facilitators.

Summit Goals

Start time: Thursday, October 29, 2009 8:00 AM EDT (-0400)

In addition, you can follow (and contribute) on Twitter to the live tweetstream for the Mobile Health Summit Both both days via the #mhs09 hashtag.

About this post: The post below is my edited summary of John McCreary’s informative, unclassified/open source NightWatch Global Intelligence Update.

NightWatch is published by AFCEA, the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Assn. of which I am a member. Past editions of NightWatch are archived here in their entirety on AFCEA’s site.

UPDATES BY COUNTRY:

Japan: Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa told reporters today that Japan is “definitely” withdrawing its naval refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in January, but might provide similar support off the Somali coast for the international fight against pirates. “It’s quite likely the case,” Kitazawa said. “It would be good to use our expertise of refueling somewhere else.”

Officials said that Japan’s future contribution to Afghanistan’s reconstruction would focus on strengthening the police, agriculture and job training, rather than the naval refueling mission, which started in 2001.

Japan-South Korea: Odd. The Maritime Self Defense Force destroyer, Kurama, collided with a South Korean freighter today in the Kammon Strait during the night on 27 October.  Defense Minister Kitazawa told a hastily arranged news conference that the Kurama crew was scrambling to contain a fire in the bow section of the destroyer.

The incident is “extremely regrettable,” Kitazawa said.  Three MSDF sailors were injured; the Korean crew sustained no injuries. The Strait is narrow and heavily used. Kurama was returning to port from a fleet review.

India-Pakistan: The Indian government today issued an official notice advising Indians against travel into Pakistan because of militant attacks in Punjab Province, where all Sikh gudwaras (temples or shrines) are located, Press Trust of India reported. Travel should halt until security in Pakistan improves, the Indian advisory said.

The warning is intended mainly to prevent Indian Sikhs from making pilgrimages to Sikh religious shrines in Pakistan, according to The Himalayan. The Sikhs straddle Indian and Pakistani Punjab Provinces.  The annual pilgrimage season has begin to visit sites associated with Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, The Guru’s place of birth is Nankana Sahib, which is located near Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab Province.

It is not clear that there is a specific Islamist threat against Sikhs, but the advisory also is part of the psychological warfare campaign that India is waging against Pakistan to encourage it to maintain pressure on Islamic extremists.

India-Somali anti-pirate patrol: The Indian Navy has decided to deploy two ships in the Indian Ocean to counter threats from Somali pirates, the Indian Express reported 27 October. According to unidentified sources, the ships will take up duty stations near Mauritius and the Seychelles.

Navy Captain Manohar Nambiar told the press that the Indian Navy has a presence in the region devoted to surveillance that is separate from the Navy ship already patrolling the Gulf of Aden. The guided missile frigate INS Trishul operates with international maritime forces off Aden.

The two warships bound for the Seychelles are the naval amphibious ship INS Shardul and Coast Guard offshore patrol vessel Varuna, which  were originally on a “routine training and surveillance mission” to the waters near Seychelles. Both have naval cadets aboard, but are responding to a Seychelles request to prolong what was a training mission.

Somali pirate depredations near Mauritius and the Seychelles this summer afford India a legitimate cover for maintaining a naval presence off the coast of Africa. These deployments will provide India situational awareness in the western Indian Ocean, serving a purpose similar to India’s base in the Andaman Islands at the mouth of the Malacca Strait in the eastern Indian Ocean. The Indians take seriously the name of the Ocean. Plus, they get to work with US navy remotely piloted aircraft and support crews in the Seychelles.

Nevertheless, according to the Times of India, the External Affairs and Defence Ministries are considering several options for combating piracy off the Seychelles. The government has not decided whether it should approve a “prolonged continuous deployment of Indian warships in those waters, like the ongoing one in the Gulf of Aden. “

According to the Times, in the last 12 months, Indian Navy ships have escorted 644 merchant ships across the 490 nautical mile-long “internationally recommended transit corridor” in the Gulf of Aden, thwarting 13 piracy attempts since October 2008. India’s annual imports through the Gulf of Aden are valued at $50 billion, while exports are estimated at $60 billion.

Pakistan: President Asif Ali Zardari has agreed to give up the presidential power to dissolve the parliament and appoint the heads of military branches, Information Minister Qamar-u-Zaman Kaira said in a televised interview 27 October.  The clause in the constitution that so empowers the presidency was added by former President Musharraf, as a key component of his plan to bless Pakistan with a strong presidential system of government. The National Assembly was a rubber stamp operation under Musharraf. In fairness, he did good things for women’s and citizens’ rights that would never have become law under earlier administrations, but mishandled the Islamists dreadfully.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari

Comment: In 2008, as part of the election compact with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Zardari agreed to repeal Musharraf’s measures to re-engineer the government. Zardari apparently has enjoyed the power, but not the accountability. In addition his abuses of patronage have eroded respect for the elected government, whose chief executive is Prime Minister Gilani, not the president, who is head of state. Zardari has promised to honor his promises on this issue in the past, but this is the first time his Information Minister has spoken as his agent to a national audience. Still, seeing is believing in the case of Zardari.

The move would have implications on many levels, assuming Zardari executes this undertaking.  For example, it would restore the National Assembly to its Westminster roots in which the legislative and executive powers of the government reside in the National Assembly.

The Presidency would revert to its British model, of a ceremonial figurehead. That would pretty much nullify an enormous amount of diplomatic energy during the past two years devoted to persuading Zardari, instead of trying to persuade Prime Minister Gilani.

Military hostility to Zardari – for example, for having misstated in public in 2008 Pakistan’s strategic nuclear weapons use policy — would become pointless and misdirected. Reversion to a ceremonial presidency would relieve military pressure for political change.  In other words, it would reduce the threat of a military coup or other action against the President.

It would complicate foreign diplomatic initiatives which would need to be redirected to the parliament (National Assembly). The Presidential system is convenient as a one stop shop, compared to the parliamentary system.

Finally, it would give direction to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s political ambitions. In a strong presidential system, Nawaz must court the provincial legislators as well as the national assembly because in combination they make up the electoral college for the president.  In a restored parliamentary system, Nawaz only needs to get elected to the National Assembly. From there he can do all that would be necessary to become prime minister, including changing constitutional term limits on holding the office of the prime minister.

Stay tuned to this issue because it significantly affects US tactics in dealing with Pakistan, though the administration might not yet appreciate that. Again, assuming Zardari does not renege.

Afghanistan: Gunmen attacked a guest house used by U.N. staff in the Afghan capital of Kabul early Wednesday, killing at least seven people including three U.N. staff, officials said. Heavy gunfire reverberated through the streets shortly after dawn and a large plume of smoke rose over the city following the attack in the Shar-e-Naw district. Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman said seven people were killed, including some attackers, according to The Associated Press.

U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards confirmed that three U.N. staff were among the dead and one was seriously wounded. He said 20 U.N. staff were known to be registered there, but he was unsure whether all were there at the time of the attack.

Woman casts her ballot in 2009 Afghan presidential elections

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to The Associated Press, saying three militants with suicide vests, grenades and machine guns carried out the assault.  He said three days ago the Taliban issued a statement threatening anyone working on the 7 November runoff election between President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah. The Taliban said, “This is our first attack.”

The continuing high level of Taliban and anti-government attacks in late October is a direct reaction to the run-off elections on 7 November.  Mullah Omar and his acolytes failed to stop the election in August and are pleased to have a second chance, apparently.

NightWatch question: Do readers think a “more legitimate” government will result from the runoff election on 7 November? Feedback is invited; please include your reasoning and/or evidence.

The Associated Press published a somewhat counter-intuitive analytical commentary by a Serbian expert –the Serbs actually have experience fighting Muslim insurgents, after their own fashion.

There are already more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan working with 200,000 Afghan security forces and police. It adds up to a 12-1 numerical advantage over Taliban rebels, but it hasn’t led to anything close to victory.

Now, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan is asking for tens of thousands more troops to stem the escalating insurgency, raising the question of how many more troops it would take to succeed.

The commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, says the extra forces are needed to implement a new strategy that focuses on protecting civilians and depriving the militants of popular support in a country where tribal militias may be Taliban today and farmers tomorrow. The

Taliban rebels are estimated to number no more than 25,000. Ljubomir Stojadinovic, a military analyst and guerrilla warfare expert from Serbia, said that although McChrystal’s reinforcements would lift the ratio to 20-1 or more, they would prove counterproductive.

“It’s impossible to regain the initiative by introducing more foreign forces, which will only breed more resentment and more recruits for the enemy,” he said. “The Soviets tried the exact same thing in Afghanistan in the 1980s with disastrous results.” There are currently about 104,000 international troops in Afghanistan, including about 68,000 Americans. Afghan security forces consist of 94,000 troops supported by a similar number of police, bringing the total Allied force to close to 300,000 members

The problem with the Serb’s analysis is the gross numbers do not tell the story. The actual numbers of NATO/ISAF combat soldiers compared to Taliban part-time fighters is probably closer to two-to-one, at best. The number of policemen willing and capable of holding gains achieved by the combat forces is not worth calculating because in every district they are outnumbered by the Taliban and anti-government Pashtun fighters who live in the same districts.

The lessons of Indian operations in Kashmir and Sri Lankan operations against the Tamils indicate that force ratios need to be between 50 and 100 to one to ensure success. Those ratios include combat and holding forces

Iran: Today’s installment of the Iranian slow roll is an announcement that Iran can accept the Russian enrichment proposals with significant changes. Um, that makes the Iranian statement a rejection followed by a counter-proposal.

Muhammad Ali defeats George Forman (1974) with “rope-a-dope” tactics

Note: Legendary boxing champion Muhammad Ali had a technique he called “rope-a-dope,” in which he would use various deception techniques in the ring to maneuver his opponent into a blistering facial beating that was almost inescapable. The “dopes” fell for it almost every time.

Thanks to a brilliant reader for suggesting the explanation of the term rope-a-dope. It perfectly describes Iranian nuclear diplomatic maneuvers.

Ukraine: Former Prime Minister Yanukovych announced today that if re-elected he would make Ukraine strictly neutral and eliminate conscription for the armed forces.

Italy-Afghanistan: For the record. The Italian government announced 400 Italian soldiers will be home by Christmas

Nigeria-China: Nigeria signed a $875 million deal with the Chinese company China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation to build a 125-mile rail line between Abuja and the northern city of Kaduna, Agence France-Pressse and China Daily reported 27 October.  The Chinese government has provided a $500 million loan to Nigeria for the project, which is scheduled to be built over the next three years.

Other segments of the railroad will link Kaduna in the north to Lagos, the former capital, on the coast, as the Chinese said, in a seamless transportation system by 2020. For old hands this will look remarkably like the TANZAM railroad during Mao’s era. The difference is that socialist solidarity has been replaced by economic imperialism. China is doing the same thing in Afghanistan, building a railroad in return for control of the largest copper mine on earth at Aymak.

Today the Washington, DC-based United States Institute of Peace (USIP) will host a symposium and live webcast on the impact of  New media Now media on global conflict resolution.

• Are social media tools and technologies at the core of statecraft in the 21st century?
• What do new research findings suggest is the impact of social media and strategic communications in a world where that statecraft is increasingly about non-state actors?
• Can interaction between cultural and geopolitical opponents enabled by social media shape attitudes and perceptions that can lead to resolution of long-standing, seemingly intractable conflicts, especially in the middle East and central Asia?
• Is the “War of Ideas” an oxymoron?

These and other questions about the role of media, public diplomacy and the promotion of global democracy will be the subject of USIP’s second Media as Global Diplomat event. The original took place on February 2, 2009.

Event information from USIP’s webste:

Keynote Speaker: Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan

On Thursday, September 24, 2009 U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Chair of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) will convene a hearing to examine the ongoing contraction in the U.S. newspaper industry, the economic impact of the changing media landscape, and the future of the industry at large.

From the JEC website:

Over the past year, dozens of daily newspapers have shut down their presses creating a ripple effect through communities, having consequences for local economies, and removing a critical check on government accountability and corruption. Witnesses will discuss funding alternatives for the print media and the outlook for the industry.

The JEC hearing is entitled, “The Future of Newspapers: The Impact on the Economy and Democracy,” and will take place Thursday, September 24, 2009 at beginning at 10:00 AM EDT in room 210 of the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, DC.

The hearing will be also be webcast live (Windows Media Player required) via this link:

View the Live webcast of the JEC hearing HERE.

About this post: The post below is my edited summary of John McCreary’s informative, unclassified/open source NightWatch Global Intelligence Update.

NightWatch is published by AFCEA, the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Assn. of which I am a member. Past editions of NightWatch are archived here in their entirety on AFCEA’s site.

UPDATES BY COUNTRY:

Yukio Hatoyama

Japan: Yukio Hatoyama, the longtime leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), was elected prime minister, The Associated Press reported 16 September. Parliament convened in a special session formally to select Hatoyama, who won 327 of the 480 votes in the lower house. Hatoyama said he is excited by the prospect of changing history, adding that the battle starts now.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama named six key cabinet members, including,

Katsuya Okada as Foreign Minister; Toshimi Kitazawa as Defense Minister; Naoto Kan as National Strategic Bureau Minister; Hirohisa Fujii as Finance Minister; Masayuki Naoshima as Economy, Trade and Industry Minister; and Hirofumi Hirano as Chief Cabinet secretary.

The Associated Press reported the new Cabinet adopted a set of basic policies at its first meeting Wednesday night under which it aims to establish more equal Japan-U.S. relations, recover more power for politicians from the professional civil service; reform the national civil service system, and delegate more power to local governments.

A document on the basic policies released by the Cabinet states that the new government will create Japan-U.S. ties that allow Japan to “propose proactively ” what the two countries can do to achieve world peace and what roles they can play to do so. The intent is for Japan to not be seen as following the US lead, but to act as an equal partner in a more mature relationship.

The DPJ government will ”engage in an autonomous foreign policy…to create and act out long-term plans” instead of extreme bilateralism or a simple stance prioritizing U.N. operations, the document said.

In order to reduce bureaucratic control in the crafting of financial policies, the Cabinet decided to launch a National Strategy Office under the guidance of the prime minister and to have the office lay out the backbone of tax and fiscal policies.

Former Acting DPJ President Naoto Kan is the minister in charge of the office, which will be later upgraded to the National Strategy Bureau after necessary legal revisions.

USS Essex (LHD 2) in refueling drill at sea

The most immediate assertion of a more independent set of policies is the announcement that Japan will not extend the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s refueling mission in the Indian Ocean. In a news conference in the early hours of 17 September, Defense Minister Kitazawa said the government will let the mission expire in January 2010.

Japanese defense ships operating from Mumbai, India, have assisted in refueling operations for the US Navy since December 2001. The DPJ resolutely has opposed this mission because DPJ leaders said it supported offensive operations in Afghanistan, not just US Naval operations against terrorists.

Nevertheless, the Liberal Democratic Party government extended [this] repeatedly through various parliamentary maneuvers that incensed the DPJ. As a result, this mission was on the chopping block from the outset of a DPJ government. It is the beginning of a rockier relationship in day to day interactions, but no readers should doubt that the DPJ appreciates that US defense ties remain the bedrock of Japanese national security.

North Korea-China: Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, acting as President Hu Jintao’s envoy, met North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok Chu and other officials in Pyongyang on 16 September for talks on bilateral relations and regional and international issues, Xinhua reported.

In watching the North Korean nuclear issue evolve in the coming months, Readers might find  a couple of points useful that might not be obvious in the reporting. as a guide for how things are going. All nations in northeast Asia except North Korea agree that North Korea should not be a nuclear armed state.

Among many reasons, one is that a unified Korean federation would be one of the most militarily powerful nations in the world under some circumstances. Koreans on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone are proud of Korean science. A unified federation would inherit the best science of North and South, over time.

What is less clear is that Chinese behavior has changed a bit. Chinese policy has never opposed nuclear programs in developing states provided they are under IAEA supervision. As to nuclear weapons, since May the Chinese have become more energetic in trying to engage North Korea to dismantle its weapons program. Visits have occurred more frequently and China did not protect North Korea from UN sanctions in reaction to the nuclear test. This is new and implies that China intends to be the only nuclear armed state in northeast Asia.

Military Parade in North Korean Capital, Pyongyang

Further, North Korean behavior carries the risk that it will encourage other states to revive or start their nuclear weapons research. Consequently, the frequency of visits by Chinese delegations to North Korea is steadily increasing. Similarly, the Chinese are less frequently denying that they have access or influence. Thus, Chinese behavior and relations with North Korea are good indicators of progress or its lack in the North Korean nuclear arms controversy.

Somalia: A commander of Somali militant group al Shabaab today invited foreign Islamist militants to join the fight in Somalia, following the death of suspected al Qaeda leader Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Reuters reported. Sheikh Mahad Abdikarim, al Shabaab commander in Somalia’s Bakol and Bay regions, said his militant group calls “for all Muslim fighters in the world to come to Somalia.”

This is the second such invitation reported in the public media this year. For those wondering where next al Qaida operatives might appear, Somalia is near the top of a short list.

France: For the record. President Nicolas Sarkozy said French intelligence agencies are certain that Iran is hiding a nuclear weapons program, Ynet News reported today. Sarkozy stated that Iran cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons because they make Iran a threat to Israel. Sarkozy also said that he will not shake the hand of someone who wants to wipe Israel off the map, for example, at the UN.

Having worked with French intelligence,  this analyst recommends readers pay attention and give great weight to French intelligence assessments.

Venezuela–China: Leaders from the two nations have signed a $16 billion investment deal meant to increase oil output by several hundred thousand barrels per day (bpd) in Venezuela’s Orinoco belt, Reuters reported, citing a statement by Venezuelan President Chavez. The deal appears to stipulate new investment over a three-year period, separate from a similar amount Beijing offered Caracas in exchange for future fuel oil shipments.

Venezuela’s Chávez (L) with Wu Bangguo (R), leader of China’s Parliament, in Beijing (File photo credit: NYT)

Chavez said that a recently agreed-upon Russian project, together with the Chinese deal, will increase oil output by 900,000 bpd. Venezuela is the Latin American partner the Russians wish Cuba had been, i.e., able to pay as it goes instead of being a leech. For China, this is another example of economic imperialism. They appear to be leveraging Chavez’ fears of American influence and military power and his worry about becoming too vulnerable because of his reliance on the Russians.

Raw material wealth provides options for creating diplomacy that balances multiples parties. Many weak countries with bright arrogant leaders thought they could maneuver along this path during the Cold War. Almost none succeeded for long. Chavez seems determined to learn everything the hard way for the first time himself.

Mexico: CNN Online reported the number of drug-related killings in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, so far this year has reached 1,647, surpassing the death toll for all of 2008, a city spokesman told CNN. A spate of killings since the weekend, including 12 on Tuesday, pushed this year’s death toll higher than the 1,607 recorded murders for last year, spokesman Sergio Belmonte said.

Killings in Juarez, located across the border from El Paso, Texas, began to spike in early 2008, when the Sinaloa drug cartel began a turf war with the Juarez cartel. In response, President Felipe Calderon sent federal troops to patrol the city.

About 7,500 troops will remain in Juarez at least for another six months at the mayor’s request, officials said. The army presence has helped curb the violent daylight shootouts that damaged the city’s image and threatened its economy, but killings and reprisals among street-level dealers continue to mount, Belmonte said.

On Monday, 635 new police officers graduated from the police academy and joined the ranks of a force that had been thinned by about 700 in the city’s effort to root out corrupt cops. The police department is now up to more than 2,600 officers.

Note: The Mexican Army is the security force of last resort against the cartels. Its mixed success in Juarez provides little grounds for expecting the security situation to improve there.

Authorities in Texas report a substantial decline this year in the value of drug and cash smuggling, consistent with the great recession. The decline in the regional economies is proving to be the most powerful ally for governments struggling against drug smuggling and illegal immigration. That is tonight’s good news, sort of.

Too good to omit: The McAllen (TX) Monitor reported customs officers arrested a woman after finding marijuana hidden in her truck’s tires during a routine inspection at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection statement.

“Axel,” a drug detection dog, smelled narcotics inside the truck’s four tires. An X-ray scan revealed anomalies. The officers who removed the tires found 16 packages of marijuana weighing 162 pounds and worth an estimated street value of about $130,000.

In another incident, U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested a Corpus Christi man who tried to drive across an international bridge with more than $262,000 in cocaine, some of it hidden in a bag of potato chips, officials told the Brownsville Herald. Just another day for US CBP.

From the official  FCC event website:

Broadband internet access presents consumers with a range of challenges and opportunities as the internet becomes a focal point for commercial transactions, social networking, and a host of activities pertaining to information gathering and exchange. E-commerce can save consumers time and money as they search out the best bargains from home. Online health care information can give users the wherewithal to ask better questions of their health care providers or seek support and advice from others in the face of a health care problem.

These activities typically involve the sharing of information – financial and personal – with institutions and individuals that make online access worthwhile. This may raise concerns among some consumers about the real or perceived risks that their information may wind up in the wrong hands.

This workshop will examine the broader context of the consumer experience from the perspective of the benefits it confers to consumers, the risks that may be associated with the benefits, and the obligations broadband connectivity may impose on consumers and institutions in an environment of pervasive data sharing and availability.

Workshop/Webinar Information:

Date: Wednesday, 9/9/09
Time: 1:30 pm
Location: Room TW-C305 (Commission Meeting Room)
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20554
Directions
Coordinator: Rachel Kazan
Phone: (202) 418-0651

Agenda and Participant Bios

Topics (Preliminary):

The following are some of the preliminary topics that will be covered at this workshop. If you would like to discuss any other topics, please send us your suggestions.

• What are the nature and scope of consumer benefits to e-commerce, online comparison shopping, and other activities that may confer informational benefits to people in their interactions with government, health care providers, and other institutions? What, for instance, are the efficiency gains from the internet’s capacity to help people organize activities in their communities (e.g., with respect to sports leagues, church activities, and volunteer organizations)?
• To what extent is an individual’s personal information at risk in the course of everyday online activities, whether they are associated with commerce, communication, or collaboration? Are there other online safety considerations?
• As more applications and personal data migrate to “cloud computing” platform, what are the policy challenges pertaining to security of data on such platforms, as well as ownership and control of users’ data?
• Among consumers, industry, government, and civil society institutions, what is the proper locus of responsibility for addressing these policy challenges?

Agenda

Can’t make a trip to DC? Attend the workshop online!

You’ll need to register to attend the webinar. You’ll also need to set up the required webinar software prior to the event. Also check to make sure that you have the appropriate players needed to playback the UCF (Universal Communications Format) rich media files. The sooner your computer is properly set up, the sooner you can join the event! If you have problems joining a meeting or viewing the webinar, please contact the events administrator.

Tweet your questions!
Submit questions to panelists from Twitter @fccdotgov. Use hashtag #BBwkshp to have your question asked during the workshop.

About this post: The post below is my edited summary of John McCreary’s informative, unclassified/open source NightWatch Global Intelligence Update.

NightWatch is published by AFCEA, the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Assn., of which I am a member. Past editions of NightWatch are archived here in their entirety.

UPDATES BY COUNTRY:

North Korea: Mainichi Daily News Online claimed to have obtained three documents that reinforce reports that Kim Chong-il’s third son, Kim Chong-un (Kim Jong Un) will be the next leader.

Kim Jong Un

“The three documents include one titled ‘Educational Resources on the Greatness of our Revered General Kim Jong Un,’ apparently used as a textbook for high-ranking officials at North Korea’s Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces and secret police to learn how to ‘admire’ Kim Jong Un. The ‘educational resources’ comprise five items, including one describing the greatness of Kim Jong Un and another explaining why the issue of succession is an important matter to Juche (self-reliance) policy.”

“Another document introduces a statement by Kim Jong Il, saying that Kim Jong Un is highly competent and has a broad military perspective, adding that: ‘Our revered General Kim Jong Un is the one and only successor who can lead our military and people. …Anyone who meets him (Kim Jong Un) is fascinated by him,’ the text says, as well as praising him as “a military talent who has genius wisdom and policy” and that he “resembles our great general (Kim Jong Il) so much in appearance.”

“The documents also state that Kim Jong Un commanded the air force as a ‘vengeful commander’ when there were mounting calls in Japan and the United States for intercepting the North Korean missile in April, and that Kim Jong Il once joked that an enemy country would suffer if Kim Jong Un chose to counterattack.”

“A document apparently compiled by the North’s secret police urges a prompt preparation for the succession of the leadership, saying, ‘It is hoped that our General Kim (Jong Un) is crowned as the successor of our dear leader General (Kim Jong Il) as soon as possible, so that the burden of our dear leader is lessened.’”

Comment: The documents probably were leaked but leave little doubt that Chong-un will be the next leader. The haste with which his completely fictitious leadership story has been concocted reinforces assessments that Kim Chong-il could die suddenly. Chong-un has lived in Switzerland and, like his father, has never served a day in a military uniform, except for playing dress-up. The actions ascribed to the 26-year old are fabrications.

China-India: A Chinese government spokesman said Chinese troops did not cross into India’s Ladakh region in eastern Jammu and Kashmir State, refuting Indian media reports, Voice of America reported today. The Indians claim Chinese troops sprayed red point on boulders and rocks more than a kilometer in Indian territory near Mount Gya.

This is the second Indian claim of an incursion by Chinese forces. Last week India said a Chinese helicopter violated Indian air space. The Indians naturally never report what Indian border forces might have done to provoke the Chinese. Usually both sides engage in moving border markers or making insulting gestures during boring border duty on the roof the world.

The more serious border dispute concerns the northern border of Arunachal Pradesh State, in eastern India. China has recently restated its longstanding position that the border remains in dispute and part of the State is Chinese territory. Both China and India are strengthening conventional forces along the eastern border. That usually is a precursor to shooting across the border.

India-United Arab Emirates: Indian authorities said today that they will release the UAE C-130 transport aircraft that has been detained at the Kolkata (Calcutta) Airport, ExpressBuzz reported. UAE Authorities apologized for failing to declare that the aircraft was carrying ammunition and weapons, including at least one missile, to China.

India’s External Affairs Ministry said the issue was not the presence of weapons aboard the plane, but the fact that they were not initially declared. Minister S.M. Krishna said India “will facilitate the early release of the aircraft,” according to the Times of India.

What reason, pray, would the UAE have to ship ammunition and weapons to China?

Hamid Karzai

Afghanistan: Update. President Karzai holds 54.1 percent of the presidential vote, enough to avoid a run-off election that would be required if the percentage were below 50 percent, Al Jazeera reported today, citing the Independent Election Commission. With 91.6 percent of the votes tallied, primary rival Abdullah Abdullah has fallen to 28.3 percent of the vote. Results from 600 polling stations will be set aside because of possible irregularities, and there will be recounts at some stations

Afghans have voted in two elections. As a historical footnote, no one ever asked them if they wanted US-style democracy. The US imposed it, backed by military force. The significance is that the only way to know the kind of government the Afghans prefer is based on behavior, which favors the Taliban in the 12 Pashtun provinces and follows the ethnic leadership in the others. This is a study in democracy, sort of.

Insurgent group Hizbi Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) is working “to find a solution to the Afghan problem” while in contact with Western officials and politicians, said a senior leader, DPA reported today.

John McCreary’s comment: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is the ultimate political opportunist. His overtures to Kabul signify his assessment that political change may be imminent. For example, over the weekend, news services reported Karzai’s promise to amnesty the Taliban who want it. Hekmatyar could be positioning himself to take advantage of an amnesty so as to be a leader in a reconstituted government some months in the future.

NW assesses that political power sharing is in limina. With a few compromises by the Taliban, they could be sharing power in Kabul. Karzai also seems to sense it because military victory is possible by neither side and Afghans are tiring of eight more years of conflict, now about to enter its 30th year since the Soviet invasion. His behavior shows that he has no confidence in US political backing and is becoming openly hostile. His fallback position is to deal with his native Pashtuns.

Afghanistan’s only period of relative peace – from large scale civil war — was during the Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001, but even then the Taliban fought desultory operations against the Tajiks and Uzbeks. In the early years, prior to the invitation for the Saudi terrorists to come to Afghanistan from Sudan, the Taliban mantra was that they were the bringers of peace and law and order. And it was true. A peace agenda could unite Karzai and Mullah Omar without much change by either side.

Power sharing is relatively peaceful, but not permanent. One side always tries to breakout and take all the power usually by force. But it can last for years, under skillful management. A power sharing arrangement would provide a time period for the withdrawal of foreign troops, an end state Karzai is starting to share with Omar. They could easily reach agreement on this issue as well, again with small compromises by both sides. Stay tuned. Power sharing talks are coming, after the election is sorted out.

John McCreary’s comment: In the past century, American soldiers have fought all over the world. But no place seems to confuse them more than Afghanistan. Mind, 21,000 more troops is meaningless and purposeless under US military counter-insurgency doctrine.

The difference between a confrontation and a conflict is that a party with no modern military power can win a confrontation and lose every conflict. See GEN Rupert Smith’s, The Utility of Force. The Allies are not losing any conflicts; they are losing the confrontation, i.e., the consent of the governed. Karzai embodies this. We don’t seem to want him, but he lives in Afghanistan and he does not seem to want us, which is a much more serious condition for us.

Iran: Authorities from the judiciary closed the office of defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi and seized documents, ILNA reported, citing a Karroubi spokesman. Disks, computers and films were taken from the northern Tehran office, and Karroubi and others were told to leave the building, said a spokesman.

John McCreary’s comment: Ahmadinejad’s electoral victory has increased the regime’s tendency towards despotism under the fiction of an Islamic republic. All the candidates who lost in the election are suffering punishment or harassment. Something about the nature of elected representative government operating under rule of law did not translate well into Persian. Despotism, the Persians almost invented it.

Israel-Syria-Lebanon-Hezbollah: Amos Gilad, a top advisor to Defense Minister Barak, said today that Syria may not be able to curb Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerillas, Reuters reported. Gilad added that Iran’s influence over Hezbollah appears to be far greater than that of Syria. “Hezbollah is an entity. ’Hezbollahstan’ is much more powerful than Lebanon itself,” Gilad said.

Gilad also said that in the past Israel could have made a deal with Syria because it could persuade Hezbollah to give up terror, but now he said he doubts that Syria has enough influence over Hezbollah to do this.

Gilad obviously is baiting Syria to prove it still has clout with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. He also is building the Israeli case that Iran threatens Israel on many levels and on three fronts: missiles; arms and advisory support to Hezbollah, and arms and advisory support to Hamas in Gaza.

No reputable authority has denied Gilad’s accusations or refuted his assessment.

Russia-Belarus: The Russian Defense Ministry stated that Russia and Belarus initiated a large-scale military exercise with 12,500 combined service personnel, 40 aircraft, and 200 pieces of military equipment and hardware, RIA Novosti reported today. The exercise, called Zapad (translated, West) 2009, is taking place in Russia and Belarus and will end 29 September.

Developed jointly by the general staffs of the Russian and Belarusian armed forces, the defensive drills will include dealing with the integrated air defense system, armed conflicts, natural and man-caused disasters, strategic deterrence and security of the Russia-Belarus Union State. Ria Novosti did not mention that the central feature of the exercise is the defense of Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave, whose land borders are surrounded by Lithuania, a NATO country. Kaliningrad is supplied by a rail line that runs through Lithuania from Minsk, Belarus and by sea. A major portion of Zapad 2009 involves Russian naval operations in the Baltic.

In short, Kaliningrad cannot be defended realistically without starting a conflict with Lithuania, or, in other words, NATO. How so? NATO is the only likely enemy in a “Zapad” exercise, as it has been in every exercise in the Zapad series since the 1980s. Thus, Russia and Belarus are rehearsing in Zapad 2009 operations to recapture by force the Baltic members of NATO under the guise of defending Kaliningrad, or so one could conclude.

Update on the Arctic Sea: Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on Tuesday rejected press speculation that a hijacked Russian-crewed freighter was carrying S-300 missiles destined for Iran. Lavrov said the rumors of S-300s on board the Arctic Sea were “completely untrue.”

He said the freighter Arctic Sea was seized by pirates in the Baltic Sea in late July after leaving a Finnish port. Russian naval vessels intercepted the ship weeks later off Cape Verde, thousands of kilometers from the Algerian port where it was purportedly supposed to deliver a load of timber. The investigation continues.

From the official  FCC event website:

The goal of this workshop is to learn from the experiences of state and local governments that have proactively addressed broadband deployment and adoption issues in their communities. The workshop will focus on alternative approaches and challenges facing government officials (e.g., state or city CIOs) throughout the development and implementation of broadband policy. The workshop will consist of two ninety-minute panels, the first of which will address state-level concerns and the second of which will address municipal and county level concerns.

Workshop participants on both panels will discuss the range of issues that policymakers face including: identifying gaps in existing broadband policy, developing necessary infrastructure, securing support from key stakeholders, encouraging adoption, funding broadband initiatives and evaluating the effectiveness of enacted policies. The workshop will also consider the types of resources that are available to government officials or would be helpful to have available when creating broadband policy. Information and data obtained in this workshop will enhance the Commission’s understanding of best practices and the challenges state and local governments face in expanding broadband access and adoption and will be considered as the Commission develops the National Broadband Plan.

• Register to attend the webinar

Topics

The following are some of the preliminary topics that will be covered at this workshop. If you would like to discuss any other topics, please send us your suggestions.

• Starting from zero, where should a city or state begin when formulating broadband policy?
• Are there certain policy elements that should be included in any comprehensive local broadband policy?
• How to identify and address community-specific broadband needs
• What are the hardest issues? What aspects were easier than expected?
• How much of the local approach is policy vs. legislation vs. execution?
• Balancing divergent interests among community stakeholders
• What types of alternative broadband network structures/mechanisms have been proven to work and in what context?
• How can programs be measured over-time?
• Given the speed with which technology changes, how can policies be structured to ensure that they evolve in response to changes in community needs?
• What can the FCC do to foster cooperation and sharing of information or best practices among state and local governments?

Agenda

Can’t make the a trip to DC? Attend the workshop online!

You’ll need to register to attend the webinar. You’ll also need to set up the required webinar software prior to the event.  Also check to make sure that you have the appropriate players needed to playback the UCF (Universal Communications Format) rich media files. The sooner your computer is properly set up, the sooner you can join the event! If you have problems joining a meeting or viewing the webinar, please contact the events administrator.

About this post: The post below is my edited summary of John McCreary’s informative, unclassified/open source NightWatch Global Intelligence Update.

NightWatch is published by AFCEA, the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Assn. of which I am a member. Past editions of NightWatch are archived here in their entirety on AFCEA’s site.

UPDATES BY COUNTRY:

Japan: The Defense Ministry announced a 176.1 billion-yen ($1.88 billion) request of 4,846 billion yen ($51.7 billion) to build a ballistic missile shield, the Ministry announced 31 August, according to Kyodo News. The request is a reaction to the North Korean rocket launches earlier in 2009. The overall proposal, for fiscal year 2010, is a 3 percent increase over the initial budget. The Ministry also wants to build a helicopter-carrying destroyer and to buy 58 tanks to replace vehicles deployed more than 30 years ago.

The Defense Ministry apparently wants to register its requirements before domestic issues can bog down the new Democratic Party administration.

The Foreign Ministry announced it will investigate a Japan – U.S. secret accord on allowing nuclear weapons into Japanese territory after Yukio Hatoyama is inaugurated as prime minister, Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka told a news conference today, also reported by Kyodo News. The remark is a shift from the government’s longstanding position of denying the existence of such a pact. The covert pact allegedly allows nuclear-armed U.S. ships and planes to make port calls or fly over in Japan.

The national security bureaucracy is weighing in early, before the new administration is inaugurated. Expect the new administration to make changes cautiously, but it needs early results that distinguish it from the Liberal Democratic Party government, turned out after 54 years.

India-China: China violated Indian airspace 21 June when two helicopters dropped canned food in a barren region at Chumar, northeast of Leh, along the border, Indian Express reported 31 August, citing an Indian Army spokesperson. “It has happened. This is confirmed. But there is nothing alarming in it,” said Col. Kachari of the army’s Northern Command.

Perhaps more alarming is a development at the eastern end of the Himalayas. In August, a weekly Chinese publication devoted to international affairs stated Chinese claims to “southern Tibet”, which is now part of Indian national territory. The journal article rejected Indian claims that the McMahon Line is now demarcated, instead of the disputed boundary trace between China and India, among other assertions.

For reasons that are not yet clear, the Chinese appear to be putting pressure on India along the two disputed regions of the Himalayas – in the Aksai Chin area in far northeastern Kashmir and north of Assam in eastern India. Chinese pressure in these disputed regions is always a reminder to India to not press Pakistan too hard on security issues. Pakistan is China’s primary proxy in South Asia.

Turkey: Preparations at Incirlik Air Base are under way for the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, DPA reported 31 August, citing Turkish newspaper Aksam. Approximately 100,000 of 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq will return to the United States. U.S. forces are preparing prefabricated housing for the withdrawal that will begin in December.

For those who thought the US was staying for a long time, the Turks don’t [seem to] agree.

Gabon: Defense Minister and presidential candidate Ali-ben Bongo Ondimba declared victory 31 August in the 30 August presidential election, Bloomberg reported. Bongo, whose father, Omar Bongo, ruled Gabon for more than 40 years, claimed to have received results from nine regions in Gabon indicating he won the election, though official results are not set to be released until 2 September.

The younger Bongo had no serious opposition. Democracy in Gabon has created another dynasty.