Subject: "Pentagon preparing for mass civil breakdown"
The DoD Minerva Initiative (Wikipedia link) was commenced in 2008. I have not written about it before, so most likely I have not heard about it before. Perhaps you haven't heard about it before either.
"Pentagon preparing for mass civil breakdown," by Dr. Nafeez Ahmed,* The Guardian, June 12, 2014.
It's a rather long and informative article. Here are excerpts:
"In 2013, Minerva funded a University of Maryland project in collaboration with the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to gauge the risk of civil unrest due to climate change. The three-year $1.9 million project is developing models to anticipate what could happen to societies under a range of potential climate change scenarios."
"[Quoting Prof David Price, a cultural anthropologist at St Martin's University in Washington DC and author of Weaponizing Anthropology: Social Science in Service of the Militarized State (2011)]: Minerva is farming out the piece-work of empire in ways that can allow individuals to disassociate their individual contributions from the larger project."
"One war-game, said Price, involved environmental activists protesting pollution from a coal-fired plant near Missouri, some of whom were members of the well-known environmental NGO Sierra Club. Participants were tasked to "identify those who were 'problem-solvers' and those who were 'problem-causers,' and the rest of the population whom would be the target of the information operations to move their Center of Gravity toward that set of viewpoints and values which was the 'desired end-state' of the military's strategy." [emphasis added-LAS]
"Such war-games are consistent with a raft of Pentagon planning documents which suggest that National Security Agency (NSA) mass surveillance is partially motivated to prepare for the destabilising impact of coming environmental, energy and economic shocks.
One project, "Who Does Not Become a Terrorist, and Why?" appears to conflate peaceful activists with "terrorists." Potentially that could be just about anybody in one context or another, it seems to me.
"James Petras,** Bartle Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University in New York, concurs with Price's concerns. Minerva-funded social scientists tied to Pentagon counterinsurgency operations are involved in the 'study of emotions in stoking or quelling ideologically driven movements,' he said, including how 'to counteract grassroots movements.'
"Minerva is a prime example of the deeply narrow-minded and self-defeating nature of military ideology. Worse still, the unwillingness of DoD officials to answer the most basic questions is symptomatic of a simple fact – in their unswerving mission to defend an increasingly unpopular global system serving the interests of a tiny minority,*** security agencies have no qualms about painting the rest of us as potential terrorists."
Ok, so I guess some members of the 0.1 percent with the money and of the U.S. military establishment are definitely not in denial.
This all adds to the interest about what happens next, I would say. :-7 What am I going to do? For one thing I'm going to continue noticing. That's like "Be Here Now," but I'm referring to the simple technique that Social Psychologist Ellen Langer takes credit for having developed, though many other smart people have joined her. Audio, 51 minutes, download optional. Maybe that'll keep 'em confused. lol And who knows where noticing might lead. I expect it'll be fun regardless, as you may understand better by listening to Ellen Langer. :-)
love,
Larry
* Dr. Ahmed (Wikipedia link) is a controversial figure. Like Carolyn Baker, he's been called a "doomer." On March 21, 2014 I sent you something, "Subject: Between danger and hope '[P]roponents of fatalism are actually systematically misrepresenting and obfuscating the science to justify hopelessness,'" that included this March 18 2014 article by Dr. Nafeez Ahmed, "The global Transition tipping point has arrived - vive la révolution."
** Professor Petras's site--looks like a most interesting picture of the world: http://petras.lahaine.org/
*** interesting article about efforts by those with huge money to "to restore faith in capitalism and in free markets," to keep down the rising dissatisfaction with things getting objectively worse and worse for most people.
--
Larry at Blogspot "undisclosed recipients" email message archive, no logging in, no public comments
“Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also – if you love them enough.”--George Washington Carver, see Earth Connection.
The DoD Minerva Initiative (Wikipedia link) was commenced in 2008. I have not written about it before, so most likely I have not heard about it before. Perhaps you haven't heard about it before either.
"Pentagon preparing for mass civil breakdown," by Dr. Nafeez Ahmed,* The Guardian, June 12, 2014.
It's a rather long and informative article. Here are excerpts:
"In 2013, Minerva funded a University of Maryland project in collaboration with the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to gauge the risk of civil unrest due to climate change. The three-year $1.9 million project is developing models to anticipate what could happen to societies under a range of potential climate change scenarios."
"[Quoting Prof David Price, a cultural anthropologist at St Martin's University in Washington DC and author of Weaponizing Anthropology: Social Science in Service of the Militarized State (2011)]: Minerva is farming out the piece-work of empire in ways that can allow individuals to disassociate their individual contributions from the larger project."
"One war-game, said Price, involved environmental activists protesting pollution from a coal-fired plant near Missouri, some of whom were members of the well-known environmental NGO Sierra Club. Participants were tasked to "identify those who were 'problem-solvers' and those who were 'problem-causers,' and the rest of the population whom would be the target of the information operations to move their Center of Gravity toward that set of viewpoints and values which was the 'desired end-state' of the military's strategy." [emphasis added-LAS]
"Such war-games are consistent with a raft of Pentagon planning documents which suggest that National Security Agency (NSA) mass surveillance is partially motivated to prepare for the destabilising impact of coming environmental, energy and economic shocks.
One project, "Who Does Not Become a Terrorist, and Why?" appears to conflate peaceful activists with "terrorists." Potentially that could be just about anybody in one context or another, it seems to me.
"James Petras,** Bartle Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University in New York, concurs with Price's concerns. Minerva-funded social scientists tied to Pentagon counterinsurgency operations are involved in the 'study of emotions in stoking or quelling ideologically driven movements,' he said, including how 'to counteract grassroots movements.'
"Minerva is a prime example of the deeply narrow-minded and self-defeating nature of military ideology. Worse still, the unwillingness of DoD officials to answer the most basic questions is symptomatic of a simple fact – in their unswerving mission to defend an increasingly unpopular global system serving the interests of a tiny minority,*** security agencies have no qualms about painting the rest of us as potential terrorists."
Ok, so I guess some members of the 0.1 percent with the money and of the U.S. military establishment are definitely not in denial.
This all adds to the interest about what happens next, I would say. :-7 What am I going to do? For one thing I'm going to continue noticing. That's like "Be Here Now," but I'm referring to the simple technique that Social Psychologist Ellen Langer takes credit for having developed, though many other smart people have joined her. Audio, 51 minutes, download optional. Maybe that'll keep 'em confused. lol And who knows where noticing might lead. I expect it'll be fun regardless, as you may understand better by listening to Ellen Langer. :-)
love,
Larry
* Dr. Ahmed (Wikipedia link) is a controversial figure. Like Carolyn Baker, he's been called a "doomer." On March 21, 2014 I sent you something, "Subject: Between danger and hope '[P]roponents of fatalism are actually systematically misrepresenting and obfuscating the science to justify hopelessness,'" that included this March 18 2014 article by Dr. Nafeez Ahmed, "The global Transition tipping point has arrived - vive la révolution."
** Professor Petras's site--looks like a most interesting picture of the world: http://petras.lahaine.org/
*** interesting article about efforts by those with huge money to "to restore faith in capitalism and in free markets," to keep down the rising dissatisfaction with things getting objectively worse and worse for most people.
--
Larry at Blogspot "undisclosed recipients" email message archive, no logging in, no public comments
“Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough. Not only have I found that when I talk to the little flower or to the little peanut they will give up their secrets, but I have found that when I silently commune with people they give up their secrets also – if you love them enough.”--George Washington Carver, see Earth Connection.
