• 105: The Pandemic of Unknowns: Reaching a New Normal in an Age of Uncertainty, submitted on 2022-01-24 22:07:39+08:00.
• 106: The Pandemic of Unknowns: Reaching a New Normal in an Age of Uncertainty, submitted on 2022-01-25 05:20:36+08:00.
• 107: Lost Innocents: The U.S. Military’s Shameful Failure to Protect Civilians, submitted on 2022-01-26 05:38:20+08:00.
• 108: The Putin Doctrine: A Move on Ukraine Has Always Been Part of the Plan, submitted on 2022-01-28 05:29:37+08:00.
• 109: The Drone Threat Comes Home: Time to Wake Up to a Growing Domestic Danger, submitted on 2022-01-28 21:48:39+08:00.

105: The Pandemic of Unknowns: Reaching a New Normal in an Age of Uncertainty, submitted on 2022-01-24 22:07:39+08:00.

—– 105.1 —–2022-01-24 22:08:34+08:00:

[SS from the article by Michael T. Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. and Mark Olshaker, writer and documentary filmmaker.]

“The COVID-19 pandemic has so far followed a different pattern with the emergence of more highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 variants that can evade the protection and immunity afforded by vaccination and previous infection. The track record of influenza pandemics, therefore, cannot offer a great deal of guidance as to how this pandemic will end. Beyond expertise and knowledge, trying to map out the future course of this disease requires humility. Governments and international institutions must recognize that they cannot have all the answers and prepare for the unknown.”

106: The Pandemic of Unknowns: Reaching a New Normal in an Age of Uncertainty, submitted on 2022-01-25 05:20:36+08:00.

—– 106.1 —–2022-01-25 05:21:05+08:00:

[SS from the article by Michael T. Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. and Mark Olshaker, writer and documentary filmmaker.]
“The COVID-19 pandemic has so far followed a different pattern with the emergence of more highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 variants that can evade the protection and immunity afforded by vaccination and previous infection. The track record of influenza pandemics, therefore, cannot offer a great deal of guidance as to how this pandemic will end. Beyond expertise and knowledge, trying to map out the future course of this disease requires humility. Governments and international institutions must recognize that they cannot have all the answers and prepare for the unknown.”

107: Lost Innocents: The U.S. Military’s Shameful Failure to Protect Civilians, submitted on 2022-01-26 05:38:20+08:00.

—– 107.1 —–2022-01-26 05:42:15+08:00:

[SS from the article by Sarah (Holewinski) Yager, Washington Director at Human Rights Watch]
“I believed the Defense Department back in 2013 when it said protecting civilians was a priority. And when I worked side by side with so many good officers in the Joint Staff, I had hope that their deep belief in how hard the U.S. military tries to avoid killing civilians would make it true. But my trust has been shattered. More important, the credibility of the United States as a moral, lawful actor in armed conflict is in jeopardy.”

108: The Putin Doctrine: A Move on Ukraine Has Always Been Part of the Plan, submitted on 2022-01-28 05:29:37+08:00.

—– 108.1 —–2022-01-28 05:30:30+08:00:

[SS from the article by Angela Stent, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former U.S. National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia.]

“Putin may still decide not to invade. But whether he does or not, the Russian president’s behavior is being driven by an interlocking set of foreign policy principles that suggest Moscow will be disruptive in the years to come. Call it “the Putin doctrine.” The core element of this doctrine is getting the West to treat Russia as if it were the Soviet Union, a power to be respected and feared, with special rights in its neighborhood and a voice in every serious international matter. The doctrine holds that only a few states should have this kind of authority, along with complete sovereignty, and that others must bow to their wishes. It entails defending incumbent authoritarian regimes and undermining democracies. And the doctrine is tied together by Putin’s overarching aim: reversing the consequences of the Soviet collapse, splitting the transatlantic alliance, and renegotiating the geographic settlement that ended the Cold War.”

109: The Drone Threat Comes Home: Time to Wake Up to a Growing Domestic Danger, submitted on 2022-01-28 21:48:39+08:00.

—– 109.1 —–2022-01-28 21:49:30+08:00:

[SS from the article by Tom Donilon, U.S. National Security Adviser from 2010 to 2013.]

“The U.S. government’s failure to address the security implications of an emerging technology recalls the mistake it made with the Internet during its infancy in the 1970s and 1980s. Back then, the architects of that network traded encryption and privacy for nimbleness and growth—an error the country is paying the price for today.
Looking back, Steve Crocker, one of the engineers who worked on the design of the Internet, regretted not taking security into consideration. “We could have done more,” he said, “and most of what we did was in response to issues as opposed to in anticipation of issues.”
Drones have the potential to revolutionize life for the better, offering everything from faster deliveries to more efficient farming to smarter weather forecasts. To preserve those benefits while mitigating the costs, Washington needs to take a fundamentally different approach: anticipating the many dangers from drones, rather than responding to them as they arise. Otherwise, as with the Internet, it risks losing control.”