Energy Politics: Gazprom, Meet Google

~ Michael A. Innes ~ Leave a comment

If you thought Gazprom‘s approach to managing customer relations  – or its role as an extension of Russian geopolitics – was a problem, just wait for this one: according to the NYT technology blog “Bits”, Google, “which consumes vast amounts of electricity to run the computers in its data centers, last month created a subsidiary called Google Energy. It then applied for approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to be allowed to buy and sell power much like utilities do.”

Fear ye, for the apocalypse draws nigh…

Puts a new spin on Google Wave, I guess… For more on this latest move towards world domination by the Tyrrell Corporation Google, read here.

Message to Exum: Political Endorsement Doesn’t Make it Right

~ Michael A. Innes ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been following with interest some of the discussion of MGen Michael Flynn’s views on intelligence reform for the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. It revisits the debate on civil-military relations that came up back in September when Flynn’s ISAF boss,  General Stanley McChrystal, was publicly lobbying for his population-centric campaign plan before the White House had approved it. It also gets into some of the finer points of intelligence procedures and analysis. Much of the punditry, though, is simply missing the point that there are serious problems with the substance of the report, that go beyond just the relative merits of the fora through which it was publicly released – like how it was prepared, who it’s actually directed at, it’s ultimate impact on the mission, etc. Those problems extend far beyond the issues picked up by US commentators, who appear to be blissfully unaware of the impact on their friends and allies. I’m preparing something in-depth, or at least a bit more thoughtful than this brief missive, but for now, I’ll just draw attention to Andrew Exum’s profoundly misguided view that ex post facto political endorsement of Flynn’s actions somehow cancels out the problems of form that accompany the report’s release.

More to follow.

Omnivore 08/01/2010

~ Michael A. Innes ~ Leave a comment

Afghan Hands – The Blog

~ Michael A. Innes ~ Leave a comment

A little over a week ago, I made a return visit to the ISAF webpages to poke around. It looks like some changes have been in the works. The website, which was pretty static before, is all swish now, and comes equipped with a social media dashboard in the footer where readers can subscribe to Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr (but no Twitter) feeds. It’s also got a new Afghan Hands blog, which carries “updates from Leaders and Troops across Afghanistan”.

So far, though, it looks like ISAF has only partially embraced the vigorous public diplomacy ethic espoused by NATO SecGen Anders Fogh Rassmussen and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Admiral Jim Stavridis. Judging by the  content of the few posts that are already up at Afghan Hands, ISAF is using this as essentially press-release-by-another-name, which is completely redundant, not to mention unnecessary: officially sanctioned, edited, and command-vetted information can be and is readily pushed to the web in other formats, and pushing it as blog content when it’s not doesn’t add credibility. If anything, in the realm of social media, it demonstrates limited understanding of appropriate and convincing uses of such technologies. There’s also no date-time stamp on individual entries, which is a small point but just as fundamental, and bad practice in any domain of publishing, whether it’s public affairs/public information, blogging, intelligence, or what have you.

To my note to ISAF Public Affairs suggesting that a date-time stamp would be really helpful, no reply. I’m going to assume for now that these are all just growing pains, and that the wrinkles are still being ironed out. NATO and ISAF are in a position to make the Afghan Hands blog a welcome and authoritative hub for information and discussion. It would be disappointing, to say the least, if they don’t make the most of an otherwise golden opportunity – and more than a little ironic, given recent arguments from MGen Mike Flynn, the ISAF intelligence chief, that intelligence analysts could stand to learn a few things from real world journalistic practice. Stay tuned.

Biosphere or Bust

~ Michael A. Innes ~ 3 Comments

Apparently, for the Biosphere 2 project, it’s the latter option. Check out friend Geoff Manaugh’s review of the now run-down state of the facility, including some recent pictures of the site, which construction has basically been left to rot. Feral cities, indeed. Check out the glossy official Biosphere website; the pictures below tell a distinctly less upbeat story.