John Negroponte and the Latin Americanization of US politics

Within the narrow confines of debate within the US political and media establishment over the various spying programs that have come to light in recent months, one basic fact is assumed by all participants: the Bush administration, whatever mistakes it may make or civil liberties it may transgress, is waging a war on terrorism, the basic aim of which must be supported by everyone.

On the one hand, the Bush administration insists that the American people must take the government at its word, that they must trust that the government is using the massive new spying powers it has arrogated to itself to target Al Qaeda. The government has released no concrete information about the nature of the various spying programs it has initiated, programs that are intended to accumulate databases of telephone and Internet communications of tens of millions of American citizens. There are any number of other programs that are still completely hidden from the population. This secrecy is supposedly justified on the grounds that any publicly available information would help terrorists evade detection.

On the other hand, the nominal opposition within the political establishment proceeds always from the basic assumption that the administration is prosecuting a “war on terrorism” that must be won. The tactics may be criticized, as to whether they are appropriate or necessary, but the basic motives are not even questioned. Typical was a statement from Patrick Leahy, the leading Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who declared on Sunday, “We should be spying on terrorists, not on innocent Americans. I want us to be safe, but I don’t think this administration is doing it the right way.”

Besides accepting the basic premise of the war on terror, such statements are highly disingenuous, given the fact that the Democratic Party leadership was briefed on aspects of the NSA spying program long before they were reported in the media.

Is it not possible that the US government is spying on the American people for the express purpose of gathering names and information on potential or actual political opponents, is using the “war on terrorism” as an excuse to lay the foundations for the roundup of thousands of individuals because of their views in opposition to the war or other aspects of the policy of the American ruling class? To even raise this question would be denounced as a conspiracy theory, if it were not so studiously ignored.

The actual purpose of the administration’s actions, however, is evident in considering the individuals who have been tasked with carrying it out. In particular, it is worth reexamining the record of John Negroponte, the current Director of National Intelligence, who is in charge of centralizing and coordinating the various different American spy agencies. Negroponte has emerged as a critical figure in the vast expansion of US domestic surveillance.

Negroponte is generally considered to have played the critical role in forcing out CIA director Porter Goss, who resigned earlier this month. To fill his place, the Bush administration has nominated Michael Hayden, Negroponte’s deputy and a former head of the NSA.

Negroponte was nominated as DNI in February 2005. While the post was created in response to a recommendation from the panel set up to investigate the September 11 attacks, the real purpose of the position is to step up attacks on democratic rights and prepare for repressive measures against the American people.

It was for this reason the Negroponte was selected. One of his main qualifications was his role as US Ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985. In that position, he helped oversee the American intervention in support of the “contras,” who were waging a vicious war against the nationalist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. During the course of the CIA-funded war, 50,000 people died and the right-wing contras employed brutal methods of disappearances, torture and mass killings.

Negroponte also oversaw a massive increase in US aid to the Honduran military, which was supporting the contras. He praised the country’s military regime as a model of democracy, and helped to cover up evidence of extrajudicial killings and torture. Shortly before a bipartisan vote in April 2005 by the Senate to confirm Negroponte in his new post, the Washington Post reported on new documents detailing his close ties to the Honduran military. Negroponte opposed any attempts to reach a negotiated settlement with the Sandinistas, and instead favored a policy of “regime change.”

Negroponte campaigned for the Reagan administration to continue its funding of the contras even after the US Congress voted to deny further aid. This policy eventually led to the Iran-Contra scandal, in which it was revealed that the Reagan administration was secretly funding the contras through illegal sales of arms to Iran. This policy was fully developed, however, only after Negroponte left his post in 1985.

Prior to serving in Honduras, Negroponte held important posts in the Nixon administration and dealt especially with Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, he was a staunch opponent of any concessions to Hanoi. In the late 1980s and 1990s, he spent most of his time in various diplomatic posts, including as an ambassador to Mexico and later to the Philippines.

Then, in 2001, the Bush administration named him US ambassador to the United Nations, a post that he held until 2004. There he played a critical role in promoting the lies of the Bush administration used to justify the invasion of Iraq. During the run-up to the invasion, the US engaged in spying on other countries at the UN in an attempt to push through votes that would justify the invasion.

He left the UN to take post of US ambassador to Iraq in 2004, where he oversaw the escalation of violence against the Iraqi population, including the devastating siege against the city of Fallujah in November 2004.

Despite his past association with the Iran-contra scandal, Negroponte was confirmed with overwhelming support from both the Democrats and Republicans to all of the posts to which he was nominated.

Since becoming director of national intelligence, Negroponte has helped transfer to the US the anti-democratic and repressive measures he has overseen in other parts of the world, particularly in Latin America.

Along with other members of the administration, he has lied in an attempt to hide from the American people the vast scope of the attacks on democratic rights. A Washington Post article on May 15 noted that Negroponte said on May 8 that the US was “absolutely not” monitoring domestic calls without warrants. Only a few days before the revelation of precisely such monitoring—in the USA Today article on the NSA’s accumulation of databases of the phone records of millions of Americans—Negroponte declared, “I wouldn’t call it domestic spying. This is about international terrorism and telephone calls between people thought to be working for international terrorism and people here in the United States.”

In an interview with CNN at the time of his nomination to the UN, Negroponte sought to defend aspects of his own history in aiding military dictatorships in Latin America: “Some of these regimes, to the outside observer, may not have been as savory as Americans would have liked,” he reasoned. “They may have been dictators, or likely to [become] dictators, when you would have been wanting to support democracy in the area. But with the turmoil that [was there], it was perhaps not possible to do that.”

The statement reflects not only the attitude that Negroponte has toward the past, but also toward the present and future. The American ruling class is confronting ever-greater “turmoil” within the United States, with mounting opposition to the Bush administration and the entire direction of American policy. Social conditions for masses of people are deteriorating while social inequality increases. In an effort to secure hegemony on the world stage, the American ruling elite is planning further military aggression against Iran, China, Russia or any other country that poses a threat to its interests, even as domestic opposition to the occupation of Iraq steadily increases.

The turmoil that Negroponte discovered in Honduras and Nicaragua (and later in Iraq)—popular opposition to the policies of the American banks and corporations—is not fundamentally different from the turmoil that is now building up at home. For this reason, the same dictatorial forms of rule that the American government has for decades promoted and buttressed elsewhere will be increasingly applied within the United States itself.

Original source:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/negr-m17.shtml

Brazil’s Nuclear Ambitions

Brazil's Science and Technology Minister Sergio Rezende told the press on May 6 that Brasilia has launched a uranium enrichment center for fueling its power plants. Brazil's first nuclear enrichment facility, located in Resende (about 140 kilometers (87 miles) outside Rio de Janeiro), will "save Brazil millions of dollars it now spends to enrich fuel at Urenco, the European enrichment consortium," the minister said. Brazil's move has great industrial, geopolitical, and financial significance.

With regard to industrial aspects, it is important to recall that the South American giant is already one of the world's leaders in alternative energy. For three decades, it has consistently promoted the use of ethanol in place of gasoline for use in automotives; therefore, ethanol now accounts for as much as 20 percent of the Brazilian transport fuel market.

Although the use of carbohydrates instead of fossil fuels is not a recent discovery, Brazil's determinacy to industrially implement ethanol as a commercially-viable alternative may pave the way to decisive changes in the automobile market because the South American state is one of the most promising emerging markets globally.

Brasilia is wagering on a combination between alternative fuels like ethanol and nuclear power. Such a mix is similar to recent French plans to launch a new generation of nuclear plants while boosting renewable energies and bio-fuels.

The geopolitical consequences of Brasilia's moves, however, are even more important. Early this year, Brazilian authorities claimed their country is already well ahead on the path to energy independence. Therefore, Brazil's entry into the nuclear club is a crucial step in its struggle to end dependence on fossil energies. At a time of increasing regional and global conflict over energy security, Brasilia's decision will greatly enhance its political independence from both fossil energy producers and the great powers that deeply influence energy geopolitics.

Brazil is South America's potential hegemon because of its size, resources, demography, and geographic location. Its future independence from Venezuelan and Bolivian oil and gas will make the country less vulnerable from potential blackmail by such medium regional powers, thus reinforcing its position as a continental leader. [See: "Bolivia's Energy Nationalization Causes Concern in Brazil and Argentina"]

Moreover, should Venezuela succeed in improving its economic fundamentals decisively as a result of its present oil-based energy policy, it can be expected that Caracas will use fresh financial strength to rapidly follow Brazil's path and try to access the nuclear club in its turn. This development would have serious implications for the region.

Since the energy crisis — due to growing oil and gas demand, fears of peak oil capabilities, and geopolitical instability in oil-rich regions– is nowadays structural, Brazil's nuclear projects consolidate a global trend: atomic power is once again gaining momentum. Although costs to finance nuclear plants and their security are often considered exorbitant, atomic energy enjoys growing popularity 20 years after the Chernobyl disaster, as it appears more viable than hydrogen-based solutions. [See: "Intelligence Brief: French Energy Policy"]

The Brazilian civilian nuclear program will also constitute a thorny political-diplomatic issue for the U.N. and the global political community. Brazil's purposes are in fact formally identical to those of Iran's. The U.S. and their main allies, however, do not believe that Iran would stop its nuclear enrichment capabilities to serve solely civilian projects because of Iranian political culture and structures, and its sour relations with Israel.

As Brazil goes nuclear, Tehran will not miss the opportunity to highlight the incomprehensible difference of U.S. and Western diplomatic attitudes toward the two countries. As a result, military action against Iran's nuclear infrastructure will be even more difficult to justify in front of worldwide Muslim public opinion.

From a financial point of view, Brazil's move needs to be carefully examined by global operators. As nuclear projects gain impetus worldwide, energy commodity hedge funds will get involved in the economic game that will follow. The induced industrial sector and investments will also be under scrutiny by financial decision makers and investors.

Original source: http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=491&language_id=1

Russian Secret Services Prepare for Global Conflict

Today Vladimir Putin has delivered his annual message to the country’s Federal Assembly.

From the moment of Putin's inauguration as the President of the Russian Federation in 2000, similar event is held every year. Priorities of home and foreign policy of Russia are defined in these “addresses”, and the primary goals of the state apparatus in the field of economy and national security are designated here, too. The theses stated during these appearances, are layed down in the basis of the current work of the governmental bodies, on the basis of these theses the new laws are passed.

Annually the Control department of the Presidential administration an account on the "implementation of the main provisions of the address". Although the secret services were almost not mentioned at all in the today's address, a lot of its key theses could be realized only with an active participation of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the Main Intelligence Service (GRU) of the Ministry of Defence.
So, the performance of a part of the tasks put before the state machinery by the Russian President, is in the competence of the foreign intelligence authority. In particular it concerns the tasks of achievement by Russia of the “scientific and technological superiority" in the sphere of economy "in the conditions of a severe international competition".

In this connection, Putin has especially emphasized that "the state should provide its assistance in the purchase of modern technologies abroad". Against this background, one should expect the further activization of the Russian secret services in the developed western countries in the field of industrial espionage. And, according to the European and American sources, for the last time the given direction has became one of the priorities in the activities of the Russian secret services, first of all the foreign intelligence. The search of "convincing response to the national security threats” does also belong to its direct competence.

Among those threats Putin has allocated the "threat of terrorism", in particular, within the frames of local conflicts on the ethnic and religious basis, and also "the dangers connected with the proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction". The Russian President has unequivocally declared that the terrorist organizations do aspire to purchase such kinds of weapons. In a context of the today's appearance and the view of teh remaining tension in the North Caucasus, the continuation of the activity of the Russian secret services against the radical Islamic organizations is to be expected.

It is related to the operation of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in the North Caucasus and the CIS countries, in particular, in the Central Asia, and to the operations of the SVR in the regions of the Middle East, South Asia and Western Europe. A significant part of the Putin’s address has been devoted to the issues of modernization of the Russian army with an aim to achieve "an ability to simultaneously combat in a global, a regional, and if it is required – also in several local conflicts". Hereto the implementation of the challenge has been considered by Putin in a direct correlation with the military potential of the western states, first of all the USA.

It is absolutely clear, that the readiness of the Russian army to participate in global and regional conflicts in many respects depends on operative potentialities ot the military intelligence (GRU). During the first years of Putin’s rule its main problems were reduced to the gathering of intelligence data and carrying out of special operations within the frame of the local conflict in the North Caucasus. In addition, the Russian power structures appeared to be unable to destroy the opponents of the federal authority in the region. Against this background, the ability of the Russian army to conduct military actions outside its own state, had been reviewed rather skeptically. However, between 2002-2005 the President himself as well as the Defence Minister, the Chief of the General Staff and the Commander of the Air Forces have repeatedly spoken out on the conduct of large-scale operations abroad, under a pretext of the struggle against terrorism. Such opportunity seem the most probable between autumn 2002 and summer 2003. Then the representatives of Moscow openly declared their readiness of carrying out a military operation in the territory of Georgia if the authorities of this country do not cut off activity of the Chechen separatists in its territory.

Now Putin has unequivocally set the Russian army a task to come to the scretch in global and regional conflicts. By the way, it follows from his performance that "the basic requirement" to the armed forces consists of "an essential increase of being equiped of the strategic nuclear forces, with modern planes for the long-range aviation, submarines and launchers for the strategic missile forces". It is absolutely clear, that the given task is put not at all with a view to the further conducting of the counterterrorist operations in North Caucasus, and even not in the near abroad, for instance, in Central Asia. It is a question of preparation for participation in the world-scale conflicts. Then the main task of the GRU has been considered first of all from the point of view of special operations in territory of the Western Europe, within the frames of a global conflict with the NATO countries.
The fact that the new concept of the Russian President will naturally be reflected in the military intelligence, is confirmed by his today's words about the planned "substantial growth" of the divisions of "radio-electronic intelligence and electronic combat".
Besides Putin has declared a necessity to achieve "the intellectual superiority" in the military area. And this in many respects depends on the ability "to reckon with the plans and directions of development of the armed forces of other countries".

The Russian President has emphasized in this connection that "we should know about the perspective elaboration” of other countries in the military sphere. It is excessive to once more explain that gathering of information on the "plans" and "elaboration" of such a kind belongs exclusively to the competence of the GRU. Putin's appearance as a whole was impregnated with an idea of the global rivalry with the West in the fields of economy, military sphere and foreign policy. In this way the Russian President has clearly pointed at those who exactly is the main oponent of the Russian secret services and has accordingly designated the priority direction of their operation.

Original source: AXIS INFORMATION AND ANALYSIS (AIA)

TV reports on Middle East through Internet

As part of collaboration with Infolive.tv, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center received permission to use their site for TV news reports. The reports are available at the ITIC Website http://www.terrorism-info.org.il

The inclusion of the Infolive.tv news reports the ITIC site will enable surfers from all over the world to receive updated information about what is happening in Israel , the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Middle East in general. There will be three news reports daily, in English, French and Arabic.

Infolive.tv focuses on the political and security aspects of events in the Middle East , but it also covers society, science and culture, available through the Internet. A full-featured news show, complete with debates, editorials, interviews and reports, entirely conceived and produced live from Jerusalem . Infolive.tv is strictly maintains reliability and ideological pluralism.

Español
http://www.infolive.tv/index.php?chgLang=41

English
http://www.infolive.tv/index.php?chgLang=40

Chinese think tanks

The question of how NGOs, as well as think tanks, might operate in a restrictive legal framework, and to what extent they may influence and shape public discourse and society, is equally important to the People's Republic of China. Even tough Chinese think tanks and NGOs are sponsored by government agencies (they need to be registered if they do not want to work under semi-legal conditions), they still retain a certain amount of non-official status, allowing them to propose and debate ideas more freely.

The role of China's civil society is not restricted to internal issues. On the contrary, in the case of the diplomacy between China and the US for instance, most of the exchanges have taken the form of academic discourse between members of think tanks.

NGOs / Think Tanks

 —China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO), Beijing, China—
China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO) is a non-profit, voluntary, membership organization operating nationwide. CANGO was founded in 1992 and registered with the Ministry of Civil Affairs in 1993. CANGO develops and maintains relations with foreign NGOs, bilateral, and multilateral organizations. This website provides information on the association's activities and its annual reports.

 —Asian Legal Resource Center (ALRC), Hong Kong, China—
The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) is an NGO having general consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council. The ALRC was founded in 1986 by a group of jurists and human rights activists in Asia. It is a body committed to the development of legal self-reliance and empowerment of people. Its work places particular emphasis on the areas of cultural, social, and economic rights and the right of development. This website provides information on the center's activities and publications.

 —China Reform Foundation (CRF), Beijing, China—
China Research Foundation for Economic Reform (CRF), established in 1995, is a non-profit, non-governmental institution based in Beijing. The main goal of the foundation is to promote scientific and policy-oriented research activities on a broad range of issues concerning China's current economic reform and development, to encourage high-quality economic analyses of subjects of interest to business, government, and the general public, so as to contribute to the process of China's modernization. This website provides information on the foundation's activities.

 —China Center for Economic Research (CCER) at Peking University—
The center aims to institutionalize a new teaching and research model which is able to attract domestic and international resources as well as bring together a group of Chinese economists who have received rigorous academic training abroad. By doing so, the center hopes to contribute to economic education and research at Peking University, foster economic reform and development in China, and add to the development of modern economic theory. This website provides information on the center's activities, as well as working papers and a newsletter.

—Ford Foundation-China, Beijing—
The Ford Foundation's grant-making in China is directed by its field office in Beijing. The Foundation seeks out Chinese initiatives aimed at strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, and promoting international cooperation. The office develops projects together with prospective grantees and recommends grants to New York for funding. This website provides information on the projects and programs funded by the Ford Foundation in China.

—China Program, by The Asia Foundation, Beijing—
The Asia Foundation in China supports civil society organizations and government institutions to enhance popular empowerment while increasing government accountability. Through financial support, professional training, and technical assistance, The Asia Foundation supports legal reform, improved governance, development of the non-profit sector, and women's rights and opportunities. Given China's importance on the world stage, the Foundation also works to facilitate a more mature and stable relationship between China and the US. This website provides information on the Foundation's activities in China, as well as freely downloadable publications.

—Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP), Beijing—
The Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP) was established in 1981 under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). IWEP is a research center in China in the fields of world economics and international politics, and a think tank for the government. The institute's seven research departments are dedicated to the following subjects: international finance, international trade, transnational corporations and international economic organizations, economics of industrial structure, international politics, international strategy, and world economic statistics. The website provides information on the institute's activities and publications.

—Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies (IAPS), Beijing—
The Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies (IAPS), established in 1988, is one of the research institutes in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Being an institute specializing in Asia-Pacific studies, it focuses mainly on the issues of contemporary politics, economic development, foreign relations, social and cultural issues, as well as regional integration and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. As a research institute funded by the central government, its research programs are both academic and policy oriented. This website provides information on the center's activities, research reports and an archive with the issues of the institute's journals 'Contemporary Asia-Pacific Studies' and 'South Asian Studies'.

 —Shanghai Institute for International Studies, Shanghai, China—
Founded in 1960, the Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS) is a comprehensive research organization for studies of international politics, economics, security strategy and China's external relations. The SIIS is dedicated to serving China's modernization, and Shanghai's opening-up and economic development. It mainly studies the US, Japan, Europe, Russia and the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on relations among major powers and China's periphery environment. This website provides information on the institute's activities and on its publications.

—China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), Beijing, China—
The CIIS conducts research on international issues to serve China's diplomacy. The institute consists of seven research divisions dedicated to the following subjects: international politics; world economy; American studies; Asian-Pacific studies; Western European studies; South Asian, Middle Eastern and African Studies; and East European, Central Asian and Russian Studies. This website provides information on the institute's research activities, expert papers, and a newsletter.

Government/ Governmental Organization Reports

—Capacity-Building for NGOs in China—
This report was published by the UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs in 2002. It provides conclusions drawn at the meeting between Chinese government officials and NGOs with the UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs in 2002, as well as a short overview of the 14 NGOs in China which have a consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The meeting's participants defined the strengthening of the role of the NGOs in the Chinese national economic development and their participation in global forums as the main objective.

—Environmental NGOs in China: Encouraging Action and Addressing Public Grievances—
This report was published by the Congressional Executive Commission on China in 2005. It provides research on environmental NGOs in China, their activities, and the legal framework they are operating in. This information was presented at the roundtable before the US Congressional Executive Commission on China.

—China's Nongovernmental Organizations: Status, Government Policies, and Prospects for Further Development—
This article was published by the International Journal of Not-For-Profit Law in Washington, DC, in 2000. Its author is the Deputy Bureau Director of the Nongovernmental Organizations Administrative Bureau at the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs in Beijing. The author points out that China is in a critical period of transition from a planned economy to a market economy. A socialist market economy, so the author argues, is a market system that is uniformly open, allowing for orderly competition, wherefore the building of a market system is an important condition, requiring in turn a positive development and standardizing of NGOs. He concludes that the Chinese government is fully focused on nurturing and developing NGOs.

—The World Bank and Chinese NGOs—
This site provides information and reports on the World Bank's activities in fostering NGOs in China.

Research / Academia

 —The Growth of Civil Society in China Key Challenges for NGOs—
This report, published by Chatham House in February 2005, identifies key challenges to the growth of organized civil society in China.

 —The Chinese Human Rights Web—
This website provides a range of links on the academic study of human rights in China, with a particular focus on materials that are available on the internet. There are links to UN and government documents, to topical issues, as well as to activist organizations and a bibliography. Some of the referred material is in Chinese.

—Muddling Toward Democracy: Political Change in Grassroots China—
This report, published by the United Institute of Peace in 1998, argues that the most effective way for the US government to cooperate with China is via NGOs (based both in China and in the US), rather than via its government agencies. This is due to the NGOs' long time expertise at the grassroots level and also because they are better cushioned against Washington's changing, and often powerful, political winds. That said, the author does not believe that NGOs will play a considerable part in reforming China, as she believes this will be directed in a top-down fashion.

—NGOs in China: Die Entwicklung des Dritten Sektors—
This report in German was published by the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung in Germany in 2004. It provides an account of the prevailing political circumstances and legal provisions under which both Chinese and international NGOs act on the basis of the international NGO- and Third-Sector-Theory. The characteristics of the Chinese Third Sector are illustrated with the help of examples. This article also offers a sound basis for further and more specific studies on the subject

Provided by International Relations and Security Network (ISN)

Political Instability in Europe: A Tired Continent of Crises

Europe has become a continent of political crises with governments in Italy, France, Britain and
Poland all suffering from paralysis or a lack of voter approval. Is the continent about to abandon
its integration project and return to the old era of national rivalry?

 Chaotic elections to the presidency of the Senate in Rome: a senator rests during a break at the
end of the third round of votes to elect the new senate president last month following Romano
Prodi's narrow general election victory. <http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,618452,00.jpg>  

REUTERS
Chaotic elections to the presidency of the Senate in Rome: a senator rests during a break at the
end of the third round of votes to elect the new senate president last month following Romano
Prodi's narrow general election victory.
It was like a past that just won't go away, like some resurrection of a postwar Italy many
believed had long since been eradicated.

Giulio Andreotti, nicknamed "Beelzebub," is the personification of traditional politics in Italy,
and he's back in the game. The 87-year-old grand old man of Italy's Christian Democratic
establishment, bowed with age and enveloped in the sulfurous aura of the Mafia, the Vatican and unresolved
scandals, was brought back by the country's right-wing camp to run for president of the senate.
His opponent, Franco Marini, a former Christian Democrat himself, is 73.

After four chaotic elections, Marini 
<http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,413759,00.html> was finally elected,sparing
Prime Minister-elect Romano Prodi an embarrassment. This was no new beginning for Italy. The
Andreotti episode in the Senate Palace shines a merciless spotlight on Italy's inability to reform
itself.

Andreotti, who served seven terms as prime minister, has been in politics for so long that he was
even involved in the drafting of the country's 1947 constitution. He has no equal when it comes to
personifying the old Italy of "historical compromise" and delayed decisions.

ITALY
  <http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,609002,00.jpg>  

REUTERS

Following outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's resignation last Tuesday, Romano Prodi will
likely be Italy's next prime minister. His liberal, leftist alliance, "Unione," consists of nine
parties and holds 348 seats in the first chamber of the Italian parliament, the Camera, and 158 in
the senate. The 14- party opposition alliance, "Casa delle libertà ," holds 281 seats in the
Camera and 156 in the senate.
Back then, the influence of the Communists meant a broader distribution of incomes than today.
Wages were tied to inflation, and critics were often kept quiet and happy by getting jobs in the
administration. This laissez-faire approach to governing was made possible by the presence of the
lira, which was routinely devalued to stimulate the economy, thereby increasing tax revenues and
reducing the national debt.

Italy's little idyll ended with the collapse of the party system in 1992, and it was dealt its
final death blow with the introduction of the euro. Suddenly it was good-bye, dolce vita. Silvio
Berlusconi had enough time to modernize Italy after he came to power in 2001. After all, no Italian
administration survived longer than Berlusconi's. In the end, he was voted out of office for paying
more attention to his own interests, even though reforms of Italy's pension system and many
infrastructure projects were launched during his tenure. Italy has had a total of 60 governments since
1946, and Prodi's slim majority also points to an early demise of the country's latest cabinet. But
the predictable problems encountered while pushing through government appointments and resolutions
are not unique to Italy. Indeed, the business of governing is becoming increasingly problematic in
several other large countries in the European Union, with Europe's core states experiencing an
almost unprecedented wave of instability.

Paralysis in France, exhaustion in Britain

French President Jacques Chirac's approval ratings have plunged to an all-time low, as have those
of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's conservative government. Now the country faces eleven
tough months before it can see any change in new presidential and parliamentary elections.

Across the English Channel, an exhausted British Prime Minister Tony Blair, after enjoying three
victories at the polls, finds himself in a similarly weak position, with the country's New Labour
movement seemingly paralyzed in the wake of its failure to deliver on promises of major reforms.

Poland's supposed strong men, President Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslav, head of the
conservative nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS), were forced to bring a rogue politician,
populist farmers' leader Andrzej Lepper and his religious nationalist League of Polish Families
(LPR), into their government as a coalition partner to form a majority — only to bring about a
throwback to the days of heightened state power and more government charity.

Compared to its neighbors, Germany has managed to form an extraordinarily stable coalition with
the capacity to bring about reform — if only it could make up its mind to do so. But even the
administration in Berlin is afraid of its voters and unable to do much.

The four governments in Italy, France, Great Britain and Poland represent more than 220 million
citizens, or about 48 percent of the EU. These four countries hold 282 of 732 votes — 38.5 percent
— in the European Parliament.

But how can a continent undergoing so much change, a continent that has embarked on an
unprecedented unification effort, achieve it goals when its leaders, including those of the EU's two nuclear
powers, are in such weak positions? Why is this continent unable to escape its history of
rivalries among nation states? Who can step up to the plate and give the EU the boost it so sorely needs
when Germany and France are focused on their own problems and Britain would rather ally itself with
the United States than with Europe?

Romantic history museum rather than global player

The navel-gazing by the EU's most important countries is obstructing the continent's bid to become
a global player. Inertia is a waste of time and moving backward is deadly. While countries like
China, India, Japan and Russia — and the United States, for that matter — run a tight ship or reap
the benefits of centralization, a many-faceted Europe is merely falling back into its old
routines.

Asian business executives already view the old continent with some amusement and its states as
little more than departments in some romantic history museum. Europe, for its part, seems to have
little interest in countering the "Asian century" that's supposedly been underway for some time.

Is this what new beginnings look like? Italy, one of the founding members of the EU, back in the
days when it was called the European Economic Community (EEC), is a prime example of exactly the
opposite taking place. The campaign platform of Prodi's alliance of convenience, the "Unione," was
the kind of political wish list that inevitably results when no less than nine different party
organizations have to be placated — a checkered catalog of demands as disparate as calls for less
bureaucracy, more funding for the theater, the Kyoto Protocol and more rights for the disabled.
Instead of heralding some brave new beginning, the Prodi alliance's platform is little more than a
piecemeal set of objectives seeking to make a few improvements here and do away with a few
shortcomings there.

The Prodi platform barely mentions or even sidelines reform projects currently in the
decision-making phase. Should a planned high-speed train route be built through the Piedmont region? Should
the labor market be regulated once again, as it was in the 1980s, when it was easier for Italy's
business owners to get a divorce than fire their employees?

Without a party to call his own, Professor Romano Prodi needs the votes of his alliance of smaller
parties. It's a relationship that threatens to ring in a new era of nepotism, costly compromises
and conspiratorial meetings in the back rooms of restaurants surrounding the Palazzo Montecitorio.
What the Prodi government lacks are the basic conditions to bring about big decisions. In Britain
a rapidly fading Tony Blair, with his fondness for global politics, faces the same problem.

Pressure mounting on Blair

In last  <http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,414615,00.html> Thursday's local
council elections,Blair's Labour Party managed to garner only a slap-in-the-face 26 percent of
votes, an expression of the voting public's dissatisfaction with government mismanagement, the deeply
unpopular Iraq war and a series of scandals in a party that once dubbed itself "cleaner than clean,
whiter than white."

GREAT BRITAIN
  <http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,622359,00.jpg>  

REUTERS

Tony Blair has been Britain's prime minister since May 2, 1997. In his third legislative period,
Blair's Labour Party holds 353 seats in the House of Commons, facing a 283- seat opposition
consisting of 196 Conservatives, 63 Liberal Democrats and 24 members of other parties. Labour received
only 26 percent in Britain's most recent local council elections.
In opinion polls, the majority of Britons see their government as "incompetent and plagued by
scandals." They're fed up with an administration that currently faces a criminal corruption probe into
allegations that wealthy donors funneled €20 million in loans to Labour over the years in return
for peerages. They're also fed up with the rash of failures and mistakes they see happening at the
highest levels of government.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke stands accused of having failed to deport 1,023 foreign-born
criminals when they were released from detention. As it turns out, one of those released has since shot a
police officer. Blair was forced to fire Clarke, a member of his inner circle, and sought to shore
up his government with a reshuffling of his cabinet. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was also forced
out, to be replaced by Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett.

An affair between Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, 67, and his secretary that recently came to
light is more than just fodder for the tabloids. What makes the scandal especially damaging is
that the secretary has now characterized Labour heavyweight Prescott, who was fond of touting himself
as a moralist, as a "randy old sod" who wanted sex after a memorial service for victims of the
Iraq war.

Granted, Blair has successfully built upon Thatcher-era reforms, merging the former prime
minister's changes in regulatory policy with the kinds of benefits offered by the modern social welfare
state. During one of his terms, the country enjoyed a growth boom averaging three percent a year and
unemployment of only about five percent.

The founder of New Labour also continues to push for additional reforms, including measures meant
to streamline the country's deficit-producing healthcare system. But his efforts have been
hampered by a lack of political support, even from within his own party, and he only managed to bring
about March legislation to modernize the educational system with votes from the Conservatives.

More and more members of Labour are convinced the party can only have a future if Blair hands over
the keys to his office to his successor, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, as quickly as
possible. There is a general mood of stagnation and a sense that little can be achieved with a
lame-duck prime minister — a conviction that Britain's social democrats share with France's
conservatives, who face a tangible national crisis and also have no real solutions to their problems.

Chirac at low point

Nevertheless, on January 4, at the traditional annual reception for the press in the Elysée
Palace, President Chirac promised his audience a "useful year for France." Optimism, he said, should be
French citizens' first obligation, and called for "an end to self-flagellation, an end to
quarreling." But only four months after his grand appearance beneath crystal chandeliers and gilded
ornaments, Chirac has arrived at a low point in his political career. His meager record of success has
also been clouded by a bitter feud between fellow center-right party members Prime Minister de
Villepin and his arch-rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

FRANCE
  <http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,619045,00.jpg>  

REUTERS

President Jacques Chirac has been in office since May 17, 1995 and Prime Minister Dominique de
Villepin since May 31, 2005. Their crisis- shaken, conservative governing party, the UMP, holds 364
seats in parliament to the opposition's 281, with 218 socialists and 63 members of other parties
making up the balance.
The national pride prescribed by Chirac has turned into melancholy, defeatism and a general
discontent with the government. The media have already proclaimed a public mood of "fin de règne" —
the sense that the regime is coming to an end. France's political leaders are purely concerned with
their own survival, thereby pushing their party members into the far-right camp.

The 73-year-old president is focusing exclusively on winding down his second term, a term marked
by a string of failures. The May 2005 referendum over the EU constitution turned into a fiasco,
with the French public's rejection swiftly underpinning doubts across the continent over the
prospects of project Europe. Last autumn's riots in French suburbs exposed Chirac as a naïve
procrastinator, and the prime minister he had appointed felt humiliated when the legislation he had promoted
for young first-time jobholders failed miserably in the face of nationwide resistance from students
and trade unionists. Since then, France has joined the ranks of countries in which the word reform
is now one of those dirty little words politicians prefer to avoid.

The most  <http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,414093,00.html> recent
scandal,which still has the potential to bring down the prime minister, revolves around whether de Villepin
ordered a secret service agent to implicate his rival, Sarkozy, in laundered money accounts — with
Chirac's knowledge and in the hope of torpedoing his fellow cabinet member's political ambitions.

The case against de Villepin is bolstered by sworn testimony by retired General D. Philippe
Rondot, a veteran of France's foreign intelligence community. De Villepin allegedly even failed to put a
stop to the endeavor long after discovering that Sarkozy was blameless. Although de Villepin has
vehemently denied the accusations and called them a "lynching campaign," his credibility is
severely damaged, so much so that even Chirac has cautiously distanced himself from the prime minister.

From Paris intrigues to London affairs to Roman confusion, the national crises may have different
faces, but they do have one thing in common: Both voters and the major parties' bases are
questioning whether the policies of recent years have brought them more affluence and security or taken
them in a wholly different direction — straight to the poorhouse.

Some insist that a globalized economy requires painful reforms. They call for lowering the costs
of doing business, which include wages, taxes and contributions to social insurance. Others say
this is the completely wrong approach, and in Poland many are already yearning for the good old days
of communism, when the state met the needs of all its citizens.

Polish Eurosceptics in power

The election victories of conservative nationalists Jaroslav and Lech Kaczynski last fall were as
impressive as they were surprising. The first blow came in parliamentary elections, when their PiS
suddenly became the most powerful party in the Polish parliament, the Sejm. One month later, the
Poles voted Lech Kaczynski into office as their president. Nevertheless, the new right-wing
government, lacking a sufficient number of votes in parliament, took another six months until, after
tough negotiations, it finally managed to assemble a majority by signing a coalition agreement with
politically unpredictable Andrzej Lepper and with the nationalist League of Polish Families (LPR).

POLAND
 Jaroslav (L) and Lech Kaczynski <http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,525482,00.jpg>  

DPA
Jaroslav (L) and Lech Kaczynski

Jaroslav and Lech Kaczynski's "Law and Justice" party has been in power since October 31, 2005.
But only since last Friday does their party, together with two coalition partners, hold the majority
in the Sejm: 240 out of 460 seats. The largest opposition party is the liberal Citizens' Platform.
Although Warsaw may have a functioning government, the administration is severely constrained by
its inclusion of loudmouthed pig farmer Lepper as its deputy premier, a political hooligan with a
criminal record for slandering politicians and causing malicious damage to property — and a man
who admires Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.

Does this mean that increasingly nationalist Poland is distancing itself from the European fold?
Not unlikely, especially with Lepper and the Kaczynski brothers in charge. In the almost 17 years
since the fall of communism, both left-wing and right-wing governments in Poland have more or less
pushed for privatization of the economy, curtailed the power of the state and guided the country
in the direction of EU membership. But the new leadership holds a dim view of all these
achievements.

If the Kaczynski brothers have their way, strategically important industries will remain
state-owned. Although the economy is humming along at a projected five percent growth rate, Poland's 18
percent unemployment rate is Europe's highest. To solve that problem, the government now plans to
rein in international corporations to protect farmers, the local food industry and small shop-owners.

Poland, which holds NATO in higher esteem than the EU, is likely to have little use for the
European project in the future, with its new administration vehemently opposed to the EU constitution.
Lepper, who spent years aggressively speaking out against Poland joining the EU, now plans to
renegotiate individual issues, such as milk quotas, with Brussels.

Public faith in EU project waning

It's certainly no coincidence that governments are faltering in those countries where — with the
exception of Italy — the EU constitution is particularly unpopular. By now only a minority of
Europeans believes that the 25-member organization is capable of safeguarding their affluence and
social safety nets.

The political class is now bearing the brunt of this public mistrust. The fragile hold on power by
key European governments reflects this deep uncertainty. The result is that voters' unwillingness
to completely trust in any political camp puts Europe's grandest goals in jeopardy.

In the early 1990s, more than 70 percent of Europeans were still in favor of the EU, at least in
principle. Just over half feel the same way today. Eighty-four percent of Germans now fear the
growing loss of jobs to the new EU member states with their lower wages. Italy and France are fast
reaching that level of fear.

Is the vision of a greater Europe too much for citizens to handle, as many politicians believe? Is
popular rejection of the EU constitution an expression of an irrational yearning for the good old
days? Did the EU accept too many new members too quickly, thereby harming its very cohesion?

In light of voter dissatisfaction and growing skepticism over Europe, the mood, especially in the
EU core countries, threatens to shift back to the notion of the national state — precisely the
opposite of the idea of a united Europe. This process, coupled with a gradual softening of the
European domestic market — and there are initial signs that is already happening, as evidenced by
Spain's efforts to prevent German energy giant E.on from absorbing Spanish energy utility Endesa —
could ultimately lead to the collapse of the entire European structure.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, who assumed the revolving six-month presidency of the
European Council on January 1, promised to "give Europe a new boost." But now EU officials are
limiting themselves to backroom discussions of tricks to rescue the constitution after all, a document
Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot has already called "essentially dead in the water."

Experience has shown that weak governments generally quarrel even more bitterly over every little
detail than strong administrations. They are less open to compromise out of a fear of returning
home with unpopular resolutions. This doesn't exactly spell a promising outlook for peaceful
coexistence within a community.

The key players are acutely aware of this. Following the skirmish among the 25 EU heads of state
over the organization's finances at December's summit, a disappointed Austrian Chancellor Schüssel
said: "The next time we'll probably kill each other!"

BY RÃœDIGER FALKSOHN, THOMAS HÃœETLIN, JAN PUHL, HANS-JÃœRGEN SCHLAMP, STEFAN SIMONS, ALEXANDER
SMOLTCZYK

Translated from German by Christopher Sultan

SPIEGEL ONLINE – May 9, 2006, 12:18 PM
URL: http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,415188,00.html

La “inteligencia estratégica” en comunicaciones.

Por Dr. Juan de Dios Romero
1.- Aceleradamente las telecomunicaciones se cursaran cada vez más portablemente, inalámbricamente, para una cantidad mayor de servicios, accesibles personalmente mediante códigos de cada usuario, modificables, para voz, datos, video, radiodifusión y para sistemas encriptados a voluntad del titular del servicio, de forma tal, que se abrirá un abanico donde la simultaneidad es seleccionable, tasada, y con posibilidades de ser transferida – por su decisión – a cada vez a mayor velocidad hacia otros terminales de naturaleza fija total o parcialmente; podrá también esa “información-noticia” recuperarse, evaluarse e imprimirse, ser parte de mensajes previos como un reciclaje que nos involucra como partes del tráfico; todo en el uso de lo que se denomina el espectro de frecuencias radioeléctricas.

2.- En el lapso que usted pueda disponer, utilizará el tiempo para seleccionar lo que considera está vinculado a sus intereses – como el gusto o un pasatiempo o un estudio – lo recepcionado por usted en esta multiplicidad será construido por los emisores de estas señales, todo también en un marco, la International Warfare, o guerra desarmada, donde los propósitos de los “constructores de acontecimientos” serán dirigidos a tres objetivos alternativos:

a) ganar su adhesión para algunas cosas; b) lograr su rechazo por otras o; c) sembrar en usted la duda respecto a una decisión suya, sea ésta ética o estética, porque usted consume además de objetos, ideas, sueños, o adhesiones y rechazos. Usted es parte de la guerra de la información, aunque usted no lo quiera.

3.-  El mencionado espectro de frecuencias radioeléctricas, en el campo de la física atómica, esta contenido en un hiperespacio, en un campo denominado espectro electromagnético, que es necesario dominar para que usted sea parte de esa contienda sin tiempo. De tal forma, usted puede ser sujeto y objeto.

Aunque usted no lo sepa; Internet es solo una parte de toda esa conflagración, en la que los contendientes quizás consideran haber obtenido un éxito enorme si solo logran sembrar en su adversario la duda, porque esa duda lleva a que parte de los propios recursos los redistribuyan en el tiempo y el espacio y en la mente de otros, en forma que en realidad no los tutela en sus intereses.

Es un ajedrez fatal, donde la ausencia de los recursos es vital para sellar el destino de las comunidades o, la permanencia de otras, es más que vital, es el futuro de una nación, de varias o de comunidades que desbordan o son menores en su geografía como continente a la de los estados en que se han desarrollado.

4.- Concebir a las telecomunicaciones en el marco más arriba descrito es vital. El silicio y luego el arseniuro de galio han sido los elementos que posibilitaron una miniaturización y aptitud de transporte y procesamiento de una masa digital enorme y, donde lo personal lo es en la medida que la portabilidad es más que posible para un número cada vez mayor de servicios y la mayor cantidad de personas en lo establecido; los demás constituyen otra realidad, pero realidad al fin.

5.- La enorme catarata de acontecimientos construidos y “trasladados” por todos los servicios y sus sistemas de transporte de señales posibilitan, solo posibilitan, que se los aborde como información y luego se metabolicen como “conocimiento” en usted, por solamente su aptitud personal para ello.

6.- La actividad de “control” de lo que sucede en este universo es realmente una tarea abrumadora, ex post facto, corriendo detrás de la tecnología, la actividad de prospectiva, prognosis e identificación de problemas y oportunidades en este marco, es lo que en esta actividad se denomina “inteligencia estratégica” y, estos párrafos son solo una más que breve introducción y, solo persiguen el que usted medite sobre usted mismo en esta realidad, el que le significa a usted este nuevo paradigma cuya génesis conocemos paro cuyos resultados se perciben en los hechos buenos y en los delitos, teniéndose muy en cuanta que éstos últimos muchas veces se “globalizan” mucho más efectivamente que sus planes domésticos, sus proyectos personales y sus ideas de la vida y el futuro de su familia.

7.- La seguridad, la previsibilidad, el bienestar, la educación y la ética de la vida requieren el que abordemos estos valores en el conjunto que nos envuelve y “nos lleva” mas allá de nuestros propósitos. Estos valores lo son si podemos prever, y prever es conocer que tipo de futuro es abordable por nosotros en este dinámico contexto que cambia al ritmo donde la aceleración es más vista como un fenómeno del cambio vital de una velocidad que, antes podíamos con certeza tolerar, ahora esta en duda.

8.- “Controlar” no es destruir derechos o negocios, es la búsqueda y realización siempre inacabada y permanente de la tutela de las personas en el marco que ellas mismas producen, por sobre nuestra voluntad conservadora o inquietante. “Controlar” en telecomunicaciones es prever conductas que amenazan y negocios y preservación de derechos que debemos ayudar a que subsistan. Porque el trabajo y la justicia no son un binomio, son un polinomio en que intervienen los valores y la situación que aquí he decidido intentar describir.

Dr. Juan de Dios Romero. Abogado en la Comisión Nacional de Comunicaciones. juandediosromero@hotmail.com

http://www.bolinfodecarlos.com.ar/inteligencia_comunicaciones.htm

Sistema chileno de inteligencia

El nuevo sistema de inteligencia chileno

El 2 de octubre de 2004 fue publicada la Ley N° 19.974, que establece un Sistema de Inteligencia del Estado. Este estará conformado por la Dirección de Inteligencia del Estado Mayor de la Defensa Nacional, las direcciones de inteligencia de las Fuerzas Armadas, las Fuerzas de Orden y Seguridad Pública, y la Agencia Nacional de Inteligencia, que reemplaza a la Dirección de Seguridad Pública e Informaciones y que coordinará los trabajos de las unidades recién mencionadas.

Las tareas de la agencia serán: recopilar y procesar información del ámbito nacional e internacional que ayude a conservar la seguridad del Estado, elaborar informes periódicos para el Presidente de la República (muchos de los cuales serán confidenciales), requerir información y ayuda de los demás integrantes del Sistema de Inteligencia, proponer normas para proteger los sistemas de información critica del Estado y disponer las acciones necesarias para neutralizar acciones de grupos terroristas, narcotraficantes internacionales o crimen organizado.

La agencia estará liderada por un director que durará un máximo seis años en su cargo, de dedicación exclusiva, y tendrá como trabajo elaborar planes anuales de inteligencia para el Presidente de la República, presidir las reuniones del Sistema de Inteligencia y establecer relaciones con organismos similares de otros países.

Para realizar sus funciones, la agencia deberá hacer acopio de datos de todas las fuentes de acceso abierto. Cuando los datos que se necesiten no puedan ser obtenidos por esta vía, se autorizará el uso de métodos como micrófonos espías, intervención de sistemas informáticos y obtención de antecedentes bancarios sujetos a secreto. No obstante, cada operación de esta naturaleza debe estar primero aprobada por un ministro de la Corte de Apelaciones que corresponda. 

Risk management and information professionals

Information professionals are increasingly recognising that
information only has significant value when it is being used.
Collections and access to databases do have some intrinsic value but
will often, in themselves, be judged more as a cost than a value.

The trick for information professionals, of course, is to base their
activities clearly and unambiguously around moving their organisations
forward. Weasel words such as "added value" are to be avoided as,
often, these no longer have the desired effect of a decade ago unless
backed up with real outcomes. Much better is to clearly find the axes
of value creation in the organisation (doesn't matter if it is a "for
profit" or "not for profit" organisation – these axes will be there)
and lock your services on to these axes.

In recent times risk management has become a central concern of most
organisations, whether in the private or public sector. This is
certainly evident in my consulting activities where I see risk
management now as a fundamental part of board and senior management
team responsibilities.

However, although "front of mind" in many organisations, there appears
to be little formal relationship between risk management and in-house
information services. A number of parts of the information supply
chain have recognised this need and are now offering products directly
supporting risk management activities. See Lexis Nexis' 'Thindex' as
an example of this <http://www.lexisnexis.com/riskwise/thindex>. Are
library and information units offering risk management support? Or are
we being bypassed in the supply chain for risk management information
support?

Clearly here is an opportunity to align the information service with a
core organisational concern. To simply believe that, implicitly,
the information service is there to support these concerns is to miss
a great opportunity to make the connection explicit. Organisations
have to manage risk; and the process of identifying, analysing,
evaluating, treating and monitoring risk is very information-intensive.
Why wait for the board or senior managers to recognise your role? Push it.

A number of factors in the organisational environment have combined to
catapult risk management onto the management team agenda. These
factors include:

* Political unrest / terrorism
* Industry rivalry requiring more risks to be taken to win good business
* Globalisation
* Corporate governance / recent scandals
* Stakeholders expectations (in both profit and non-profit organisations)

The UK government is also keen to improve its responses to risk and in
November 2002 the Cabinet Office published its extensive report on
"Risk: improving government's capability to handle risk and
uncertainty" <http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/2002/risk/risk/home.html>.

Every process and activity within an organisation has risk associated
with it. Some of the more immediate risks are:

* Strategic positioning, development, deployment, reputation and
  review
* Corporate governance: accounting, disclosure, regulatory & compliance
* Market (financial): interest rates, credit risks, currency risk,
  investments, liquidity
* Operations: process risk, supply chain risks
* Systems and information technology
* Human resources and management, labour strikes
* Market (marketing) – new product development, choice of segment
  (geographic, behavioural), changes in consumer acceptance, product
  choice, pricing choice, channel choices, promotional choices,
  sales practices
* Environmental risks
* Intellectual property protection
* Others!

Most of the major management consultancies now have risk management
products on the market. Ernst & Young have developed proprietary
methodology and tools, such as Risk Universe(TM) framework for
classifying risks, a complexity-modelling tool to identify risk
interdependencies, and RISKWeb(TM) technology to manage, monitor and
report on risks (search from <http://www.ey.com>). Price Waterhouse
Coopers are another example of a consultancy with a thriving risk
management division (search for Global Risk Management Solutions from
<http://www.pwcglobal.com>). All of these consultancy models are
extremely information intensive and involve risks such as strategic,
operational, financial, compliance, reputational and environmental.

In September 2002 The Institute of Risk Management (IRM), The
Association of Insurance and Risk Managers (AIRMIC), and 'ALARM: The
National Forum for Risk Management in the Public Sector', published
the new 'Risk Management Standard'. It is clear that risk management
is becoming a potential catalyst for some organisations.

The information professional's contribution to the effective
deployment of risk management could be significant. Here are a few
initial ideas based around a potential risk management process:

* Identifying risks – traditional information search and retrieval
* Analysing risks – turning information into intelligence
* Evaluating risks – putting this intelligence in the context of the
  organisation's ability to reach its objectives
* Treating risks – identifying ways to support the management of risks
* Monitoring risks – providing traditional current awareness and
  selective dissemination of information services

The information professional may already be doing some of these
support services already. Good. However, we may need to redefine
some of our service offerings to reflect new terminologies and
concepts whilst essentially using many of our core skills. It is as
much about the way we do it as what we actually do.

It is evident that the information professional's natural skill base
will be stretched and challenged by the range of responses that can
make an input to risk management. However, with the right skill set,
information professionals are in a good position to help organisations
deal with risk in a meaningful way.

The killer skill set to develop is:

* Understanding of underlying risk management models to ensure
  that you are speaking the right language
* Information search tools and techniques should be nothing
  less than leading edge
* Analysis and interpretation skills may need to be developed further
  as information professionals develop from 'gophers' (go for it and
  bring it back) to 'consultants' (problem solving in context)
* Presentation skills – remembering information only has value in
  context and use

If you have a Chief Risk Officer or something similar, make contact
today. They could be anywhere in the organisation from finance to
their own department. They may be functional or enterprise-wide.
They will be in profit and non-profit organisations. Chances are
though that somebody somewhere has a clear responsibility for keeping
the senior management team appraised on risks and their management.
And you can be sure that they need all the information help and
support they can get.

Get up to speed quickly — select bibliography and webliography:

Bibliography
————

Shimell, Pamela (2001). The Universe of Risk: How Top Business Leaders
Control Risk and Achieve Success. Financial Times Prentice Hall;
ISBN: 0273656422

Bernstein, P. L. (1998). Against the gods: the remarkable story of
risk. John Wiley & Sons Inc; ISBN: 0471295639

Webliography
————

AIRMIC's "Risk Management Standard" September 2002
<http://www.airmic.com/RiskManagementStandard.asp#insiderms>

Institute of Risk Management <http://www.theirm.org>
Association of Insurance and Risk Managers <http://www.airmic.com>
Association of Local Authority Risk Managers <http://www.alarm-uk.com>

Examples of private sector risk management companies with content rich
websites:

      <http://www.riskinfo.com>
      <http://www.riskworld.com>
      <http://www.riskwaters.com>

Examples of recent reports by consultancies (check out their sites,
free copies may still be available online. These things come and go!):

2002. Managing risk in Europe 2002: a survey of mid sized firms.
      London, Marsh.

2002. Strategic Risk Management: new disciplines, new opportunities.
      Boston, CFO Publishing Corp.

2001. Understanding enterprise risk management: an emerging model for
      building shareholder value, KPMG.

2000. Risk management and the value added by internal audit, Institute
      of Chartered Accountants.

> – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Terry Kendrick is Director of Information Now Ltd
<http://www.terrykendrick.co.uk>. He originally trained as a librarian
in the late 1970s but since the mid 1980s has been freelance initially
as an information broker and, since 1990 as a marketing planning
consultant. He has worked on assignments for over 50 large
organisations in 17 different countries. He still maintains close
contact with the library and information world and regularly presents
workshops for the Chartered Institute of Library and Information
Professionals (CILIP) as well as doing occasional strategic
planning-related consultancy for library and information services.

Terry teaches modules on the University of East Anglia executive MBA
and is currently undertaking a PhD in risk management applications
in strategic marketing planning.

> – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Related FreePint links:

* 'Information and Libraries' articles in the FreePint Portal
  <http://www.freepint.com/go/p69>
* Post a message to the author, Terry Kendrick, or suggest further
  resources at the FreePint Bar <http://www.freepint.com/bar>
* Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks
  <http://www.freepint.com/issues/010503.htm#feature>
* Access the entire archive of FreePint content
  <http://www.freepint.com/portal/content/>

Original source @

http://www.freepint.com/issues/010503.htm#tips>
"Risk management: an additional axis for information professionals?" by Terry Kendrick