Monthly Archives: February 2014

By Anthony F. Shaker

Western propaganda about Ukraine, Syria, Venezuela,and a host of other so-called "human-rights files" around the world, is being churned out on an industrial scale these days. Working in unison with the politicians are NGOs like Human Rights Watch, which is currently beating the drum of war at a frenetic speed, much as we rememberAmnesty Internationaldoing at the height of the Cold War. True, the argumentspresented to the public stand, almost invariably, on wild assumptions and claims that have no basis in reality except in the minds of armchair strategists,secretplotters and lunatics.

One recent example is an article in Foreign Affairs, a major establishment policy journal ("The Good and Bad of Ahrar al-Sham. An al Qaeda-Linked Group Worth Befriending," by Michael Doran et al.). Its authors actually tried to promote American rapprochement with Wahhabi and Saudi-sponsoredjihadism around the world, as if this has not already happened. However, the mock ignorance behind this moral acrobatics seems to reflecta far more sinister design than even the larger and expanding rivalry into which the US is now locking itself with the Russian Federation.

The first question that comes to mind, even if the authors are correct in distinguishing good from bad Wahhabi terrorists, is towhat end? What do the authors hope Obama would achieve with such analliance? Liberty? Some antiquatedAmerican version of "democracy"?

The tragedy is that the United States is operating, more than ever, under the cloak of "revolutionism," one based on the notion that human rights must be practiced according to US values and whenever the US dictates.

Naturally, this new tribal redefinition of liberty requires the demolition of "regimes" that refuse to embrace such a divinely ordained "self-evident truth." But because nobody has the patience to listen anymore, the Obama administration regularly has to issue military threats, sanctions, etc., just to be heard over the growing din of misery around the world.

Most disturbingly, the US has returned to its old tactic of deploying armed local militias, as it has done against Nicaragua, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, of course Afghanistan under the Soviets, not to mention other nations. Bloodthirsty terrorists--and literally, cannibals who film themselves eating human flesh--apparently pose no problem. We nickname them freedom fighters--more offensively, "activists."

Is this how human rights and democracy are to be established in countries we claim to care about? Or, is it a useful instrument with which to demolish states that the governments of both the US and Israel feel are blocking their view of the glorious future awaiting us all under Americo-Israeli "guidance."

That is a cartoonish interpretation of the world at the intellectual level of Bibi the Bomber during his comical address at the UN.I say this because it has become amply clear the US is on a fast-track to the "dustbin of history" on this march (as the "evil Communist revolutionaries" once used to paint their capitalist opponents).

The purpose of using Saudi- and Gulf-sponsored armies of Wahhabi jihadists around the Islamic world, most devastatingly in Syria, is not to build anything, but to pave the way for direct foreign control in an increasingly desperate situation for the US and the EU on nearly every front (geopolitical, diplomatic and, for the EU, economic).

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President Obama, the 'Permanent Revolutionary'

In his first interview after taking over as chief executive officer of Microsoft, Satya Nadella talks to Adam Bryant on leadership, management approach, business and his vision for the company. Excerpts:

What leadership lessons have you learned from your predecessor, Steve Ballmer?

The most important one I learned from Steve happened two or three annual reviews ago. I sat down with him, and I remember asking him: "What do you think? How am I doing?" Then he said: "Look, you will know it, I will know it, and it will be in the air. So you don't have to ask me, 'How am I doing?' At your level, it's going to be fairly implicit."

I went on to ask him, "How do I compare to the people who had my role before me?" And Steve said: "Who cares? The context is so different. The only thing that matters to me is what you do with the cards you've been dealt now. I want you to stay focused on that, versus trying to do this comparative benchmark." The lesson was that you have to stay grounded, and to be brutally honest with yourself on where you stand.

And what about Bill Gates?

Bill is the most analytically rigorous person. He's always very well prepared, and in the first five seconds of a meeting he'll find some logical flaw in something I've shown him. I'll wonder, how can it be that I pour in all this energy and still I didn't see something? In the beginning, I used to say, "I'm really intimidated by him." But he's actually quite grounded. You can push back on him. He'll argue with you vigorously for a couple of minutes, and then he'll be the first person to say, "Oh, you're right." Both Bill and Steve share this. They pressure-test you. They test your conviction.

There's a lot of curiosity around what kind of role Bill is going to play with you.

The outside world looks at it and says, "Whoa, this is some new thing." But we've worked closely for about nine years now. So I'm very comfortable with this, and I asked for a real allocation of his time. He is in fact making some pretty hard trade-offs to say, "OK, I'll put more energy into this." And one of the fantastic things that only Bill can do inside this campus is to get everybody energised to bring their "A" game. It's just a gift.

What were some early leadership lessons for you?

I played on my school's cricket team, and there was one incident that just was very stunning to me. I was a bowler - like a pitcher in baseball - and I was throwing very ordinary stuff one day. So the captain took over from me and got the team a breakthrough, and then he let me take over again.

The rest is here:
Longevity in this business is about being able to reinvent yourself: Satya Nadella

As soon as a friend gets into a serious relationship, you might think: Good for her! The second: I wonder how long will it last? Its human nature. A new app, Forever|NOT (clever) adds some fun, interactivity, and competition into our natural inclination toward thinking horrible things about happy people by letting you bet on the longevity of your friends relationships. You dont get any money if youre right, but youll get paid out with oodles of schadenfreude.

Forever|NOT works in the same vein as Tinder: It accesses your Facebook information, finds your coupled-up friends, analyzes their interactions, and gives them a score. If you think a couple is one step away from a registry, swipe left. If youre certain youll be sweeping up the smoldering relationship ashes of your high-school friend Emotionally Repressed Rachel and her new boyfriend, Overgrown Alcoholic Fratboy Frank, swipe right. Bonus: To help you feel like less of a jerk, the app throws celebrity relationships like Amber Heard and Johnny Depp into the mix. (Swipe right.)

But, like every gambling game, there's a way to cheat the system. The Forever|NOT website offers some sound advice for increasing your relationship score and ensuring a left swipe. It recommends:

1. Dont fight in public! 2. Tell your friends all the great things your significant other does for you (if they dont, fake it!). 3. Send flowers to your girlfriend at work or school so everyone else sees. 4. Message your friends that you support their relationship and invite them to bet on yours. 5. PDA is GOOD.

(User warning: Forever|NOT might have been created by a group of jilted tweens who are app-shaming their BFFs into treating them better.)

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Theres a Handy New App for Betting on Friends Relationships