The Dawn of Psychographic Outcome-based Warfare

The Dawn of Psychographic Outcome-based Warfare

Somewhere deep in the bowels of the Israeli intelligence-surveillance-military complex – perhaps, in a dozen or more highly-secured computer systems laboratories in Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Ramat Gan, and Petach Tikva – the idea was first stumbled upon. Borrowing from the psychographic tools developed by online marketing firms and coupling them with age-old propaganda methods and…

Cambridge Analytica & The Facebook-Big Data Conspiracy

Cambridge Analytica & The Facebook-Big Data Conspiracy

The Guardian published an exposé about how Cambridge Analytica allegedly mastered the use of social media data to give the Brexit and Trump campaigns a crucial edge in 2016. The UK news outlet released an extensive story about Christopher Wylie, the Canadian genius behind the Cambridge Analytica data firm that was reportedly the secret weapon…

Regional Cooperation on Afghanistan Remains a Chimera

Regional Cooperation on Afghanistan Remains a Chimera

The international conference on Afghanistan, scheduled to take place in Tashkent on Monday, seems doomed to become yet another inconsequential event. Washington is the prime mover behind the conference, which will be co-chaired by the presidents of Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. But, ironically, the US has undermined its own initiative at the last minute. The Tashkent…

Why Borrowers on China’s Belt and Road Will Go From Euphoria to Depression

Why Borrowers on China’s Belt and Road Will Go From Euphoria to Depression

Until very recently, the dusty African territory of Djibouti was best known to the wider world for its inhabitants’ habit of chewing khat. Each day, as the heat of the afternoon mounts, the men of Djibouti gather in sociable groups, wad a few leaves of the East African shrub Catha edulis into their cheeks, and…

A Curious Incident Part IV

A Curious Incident Part IV

Part I may be found here. Part II may be found here. Part III may be found here. “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” Sherlock Holmes Theresa May and the Dodgy Statement to Parliament On…