1. Environment, 2. Health, Betraying Veterans, Anatomy, 2.1. BioEcon Security. 3. Operations in Hot Zones, Venezuela, Congo, Brazil, Syria, 4. Mephysis, Signs of Normalcy, 4.1. Nuclear Arms Race, 5. Contagious Information, Story vs Fact, 5.1 Reflexive Control, 5.2. Mutated Information, 5.3. Chinese Disinformation, Health Information Suppression. Previous Week 190818-Polemic.
Other topics: Humanitarian Aid, Privacy, Hypersonic Missile, Social Media, Hong Kong, Megafire, Firestorms, Training, Interagency Coordination and Operations, Zealotry, Artificial Intelligence
-1. Environment: Climate Change Turns Arctic into Strategic, Economic Hotspot, and conflicting interests tend to be become physical conflicts. [Cartoon].
-2. Health: No Comment: Emails Show the VA Took No Action to Spare Veterans from a Harsh Trump Immigration Policy, These Deported Vets Say Rescuing Migrants Is Their Duty; like many health and environment problems many existed prior to the current administration, the main difference is the acceleration of these, Noncitizen Veterans Protest Possible Deportation to Mexico 2012. VA Pathologist Charged with Deaths of Three Veterans, Scheme to Cover up Years of Drug Use on the Job Listicle. | The Nazi Book of Anatomy Still Used by Surgeons.
-2.1. Biosecurity Is Economic Security. In our lifetimes, biotechnology has improved the quality of human life in ways that earlier generations could barely have imagined. Biotech startups today are producing waves of innovation that impact not only medicine and agriculture, but also fields as seemingly non biological as computing and industrial chemistry. As biotechnology becomes more pervasive and powerful, what new risks will it create, and how can we mitigate them. In other words, how can biology solve today’s biggest challenges without creating new ones, preventing disasters before they become headlines. UAE Incorporating Biosecurity in Higher Education Curricula Recommended.
-3. Operations in Hot Zones:
-Venezuela: US Southern Command Head Focused on ‘Day After’ in Venezuela. The same claims were made for post combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Though likely to happen it is uncertain if there will be greater success, especially with two other major countries do the best they can to assure it fails, and an administration that seems disinclined toward international humanitarian aid. <ADDED 190825-181209-4>.
-DRCongo: Ebola Spreads 200 KM West to Remote, Militia Run Congo Province. Property Damage Recorded in Rebel Incursion at Kambuli Health Center. North Kivu Ebola Fight: Army Deploys on the Ground to Raise Awareness. <ADDED 190825-180513-1.1>HHS.
-Brazil: A literal hot zone <ADDED 190825-190818-2>, Bolsonaro Prepares to Send Army to Contain Amazon Fire -2-. In Brazil the fire service is military, The Operational Cycle of the Brazilian Fire and Emergency Services, there are no indications that there are coordination plans or joint operations between the armed and fire services. Most armed service civil military operations security are civil control, Use of the Brazilian Military Component in the Face of Venezuela’s↑ Migration Crisis. Moreover, there are no indications that Brazil has supplies of equipment for firefighting and if the armed services have been trained with the equipment. Undoubtedly a large expenditure of funds can remedy the equipment shortfall (with a delay for purchase, delivery, distribution), but assuming that training can be accomplished quickly will probably mean many will die and interfere with control and containment. BTW the US Military (both active and reserve) have fire fighting as part of the mission, along with training, equipment and practice, so it is possible Brazil has at least some ability that I could not find. Brazil Military Begins Operations to Fight Amazon Rainforest Fires which argues that there are sufficient capabilities, just not the ones expected Brazilian Government Equips Firefighters with Flamethrowers to Combat Massive Amazon Rainforest, 190825-1.2.
-Syria: Anniversary of the Ghouta Chemical Weapons Attack. A thoughts and prayers official platitude.
-4. Mephysis: Sometimes the indicators that a war torn nation is establishing a new normal are unexpected, Baghdad Bikers Dance as Parties Return to Battle Weary City.
-4.1. Russia's Super Weapons Not the Start of Arms Race, Kremlin Says, but apparently it was. Putin Said Russia Has Developed a New Generation of Unstoppable Nuclear Weapons, and Showed an Animation of Them Heading for the US, Trump May Soon Kill a US-Russia Arms Control Deal. It Might Be a Good Idea, Russia Probably Conducting Banned Nuclear Tests, US Official Says, After INF Treaty's Demise, U.S. Seeks Funds for Missile Tests, The Return of Doomsday. The New Nuclear Arms Race – and How Washington and Moscow Can Stop It, Is the Super Weapon Behind the Nuclear Incident, U.S. Tests Missile Banned for Decades, Ignoring Warnings from Russia -2-, Nuclear Monitoring Stations Went Mysteriously Quiet after Russian Missile Facility Explosion. Step one suspicion that other side is not following agreement, step two start secretly violating agreement to deter other side, step three start violating agreement to counter violation agreement and steal technology from other side, step 4 repeat until equilibrium is lost and system topples. Putin Says There Is No Risk of Increased Radiation Levels Following Deadly Blast in Northern Russia, which can’t be trusted or verified; Russia Says It Won't Share Rocket Explosion Data as Suspicions Swirl, Nuclear Watchdog: Russia Has Resumed Sharing Radiation Data, Big Questions Linger as Russia Shares Radiation Data. The Absurd Strategy Behind Russia’s Nuclear Explosion. US and Russia Blame Each Other for Abandoning Missile Treaty. Russian Doctor Has Trace of Radiation after Explosion, and if true this if good news as it indicates greater Russian ability to handle radiation disasters and possibly that the radiation isn’t wide spread but contained. Russia Is Launching a Floating Nuclear Reactor, Despite Warnings it Could Be 'Chernobyl on Ice' -2-. Norwegian Researchers Say Data May Point to Second Blast at Russian Test Site. New Model Agrees with Old: Nuclear War Between U.S. and Russia Would Result in Nuclear Winter, but not a recommended method to reverse warming temperatures.
-A. There are some more troubling aspects to this. A religious like zealotry and potential fusion with AI. Blessed Be Thy Nuclear Weapons: The Rise of Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy, Blessing the Holy ICBMs: The Russian Orthodox Church and Putin another example of weaponization of religion. Death by Algorithm: the Age of Killer Robots Is Closer than You Think.
-5. Viral Misinformation. Facts and Stories: Great Stories Undermine Strong Facts. The main interest of PDWN is about behavior in the context of biodisasters. Much of the misinformation that is fueling the anthropogenic causes appear to be using disinformation techniques used in American Political Marketing and Russian Disinformation. Facts vs Stories. There is a common style of journalism, that you are almost certainly very familiar with, in which the report starts with a personal story, then delves into the facts at hand often with reference to the framing story and others like it, and returns at the end to the original personal connection. This format is so common it’s a cliche, and often the desire to connect the actual new information to an emotional story takes over the reporting and undermines the facts. This format reflects a more general phenomenon – that people are generally more interested in and influenced by a good narrative than by dry facts. Or are we. 190825-Vaccine-PDWN.
-5.1. Russian Reflexive Control. Reflexive control (RC) is the term used to describe the practice of predetermining an adversary’s decision in your favor, by altering key factors in the adversary’s perception of the world. The term is primarily encountered in discussion of Russian techniques of information warfare. In this context, the practice represents a key asymmetric enabler to gain critical advantages, neutralizing the adversary’s strengths by causing him or her to choose courses of action that are damaging to the adversary and further Russian objectives. Death by a Thousand Cuts: Is Russia Winning the Information War with the West. Handbook of Russian Information Warfare. Russia' s Improved Information Operations: From Georgia to Crimea. Russia’s New Tools for Confronting the West: Continuity and Innovation in Moscow’s Exercise of Power.
-5.2. The Weaponisation of Information Is Mutating at Alarming Speed, used to provoke, mislead and influence the public in numerous insidious ways. Disinformation was just the first stage of an evolving trend of using information to subvert democracy, confuse rival states, define the narrative and control public opinion. Using the large, unregulated, open environments that tech companies once promised would “empower” ordinary people, disinformation has spread rapidly across the globe. The power that tech companies offered us has become a priceless tool in propagandists’ hands, who were right in thinking that a confused, rapidly globalising world is more vulnerable to the malleable beast of disinformation than straightforward propaganda. Whatever we do, however many fact checking initiatives we undertake, disinformation shows no sign of abating. It just mutates. ¶ Why 2020 Disinformation Campaigns May Be Outsourced to the Philippines. 190825-Vaccine-2.
-5.3. How China Used Facebook and Twitter to Spread Disinformation about the Hong Kong Protests. There have long been concerns about China’s social media disinformation capabilities, but we haven’t really seen them put them into action until now. How China Uses Twitter And Facebook To Share Disinformation About Hong Kong. Russia gets most of the attention when it comes to malicious use of social media by state actors. The protests in Hong Kong have made clear China is using the same playbook. China Attacks Hong Kong Protesters With Fake Social Posts$. | Hong Kong Protests: Twitter and Facebook Remove Chinese Accounts, Twitter, Facebook Suspend China Linked Disinformation Campaigns Targeting Hong Kong, Twitter Shuts Chinese Accounts Targeting Hong Kong Protests. The City of Melbourne Has Said this ‘Permit’ for a Pro China Rally in August 2019 Is Fake. China Paid Facebook and Twitter to Help Spread Anti Muslim Propaganda. Concerns Growing that China's Influence Operations Getting Bolder. Chinese disinformation is assisted by the current US information environment. #Book Winning Without Fighting: Chinese and Russian Political Warfare Campaigns and How the West Can Prevail.
-A. There is already a history of China suppressing unfavorable health related information, China Cracks down on Internet Bird Flu Rumors 2013, We Don’t Chat About That 2018, 180916-3.3, <ADDED 190825-181118-VCP-China>. SARS: Unmasking Censorship in China 2015. Information Control and Self Censorship in the PRC and the Spread of SARS. China's Handling of Swine Fever Outbreak Similar to SARS$ 2019.
-5.4. In the main PDWN blog the use of fiction to explore real world problems is a frequent stub. The same happens for polemic, and in the case disinformation. SPOILER ALERT Spider Man: Far From Home Pits Spidey Against Fake News. "I control the truth!" the villain shouts. One of the teenage heroes quotes George Orwell warning that the "very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world". Later, one of the young heroes suggests that the news media isn't always trustworthy. And in the end, one of Spider Man's old quasi nemeses returns in the guise of an Alex Jones like YouTube barker, spreading a mix of decontextualized truth and strategic disinformation. [Still].
From PDWN 190825
-2. Review of the #Book The Human Body in the Age of Catastrophe, Brittleness, Integration, Science, and the Great War, covering the new levels of mass traumatic and non kinetic injury that became possible during WWI.
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