19. april 2006

US government relies increasingly on open sources, like blogs The CIA has discovered blogging: President Bush and U.S. policy-makers are receiving more intelligence from open sources such as Internet blogs and foreign newspapers than they previously did, senior intelligence officials said.     The new Open Source Center (OSC) at CIA headquarters recently stepped up data collection and analysis based on bloggers worldwide and is developing new methods to gauge the reliability of the content, said OSC Director Douglas J. Naquin.     "A lot of blogs now have become very big on the Internet, and we're getting a lot of rich information on blogs that are telling us a lot about social perspectives and everything from what the general feeling is to ... people putting information on there that doesn't exist anywhere else," Mr. Naquin told The Washington Times.     Eliot A. Jardines, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for open source, said the amount of unclassified intelligence reaching Mr. Bush and senior policy-makers has increased as a result of the center's creation in November. * Waving at trenchcoats * 10:30:25 PM    comment []  trackback []

Mexico's hypocrisy on immigration Mexico slammed a new Georgia law that puts restrictions on illegal immigrants: Presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar said the legislation discriminated against Mexicans and that diplomats would monitor how it was applied. The law, which will take effect next year, prevents illegal immigrants from receiving many social services. Meanwhile, Mexico's own illegal immigrants are considered criminals, and even worse, they suffer abuse, theft, murder and rape from the country's corrupt police and military. The level of brutality Central American immigrants face in Mexico was apparent Monday, when police conducting a raid near a rail yard outside Mexico City shot to death a local man, apparently because his dark skin and work clothes made officers think he was an immigrant. The National Human Rights Commission, a government-funded agency, documented the abuses in Mexico in a December report. ''One of the saddest national failings on immigration issues is the contradiction in demanding that the North respect migrants' rights, which we are not capable of guaranteeing in the South,'' commission president Jose Luis Soberanes said. Those immigrants are not likely to dare demonstrating in Mexico City anytime soon. 10:26:37 PM    comment []  trackback []

Italian Supreme Court confirms Prodi win Shades of Florida 2000. The Italian supreme court has confirmed the victory of centre-left opposition candidate Romano Prodi in last week's contested general election. The court certified the results, giving Mr Prodi a narrow win, as valid after a review of the electoral returns, including some 5,000 disputed ballots. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had refused to concede, citing widespread irregularities in the vote. The result will bring to an end his five-year term as prime minister.  I wonder if Prodi will face the same accusation that he was "appointed" by the Supreme Court, not elected, as was alleged about George Bush? Somehow, I don't think so. Prodi, on the other hand, will face quite different problems holding together a very slim minority of political parties with very, very different positions. I doubt he lasts five years. 6:52:40 PM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2006 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.05.2006; 13:04:39.