Phone a friend for recruitment and unleashing your inner psychopath: how to join ISIS.

It's a shocking strategy that ISIS is using to draw in foolish people to their midst.  This video reveals that ISIS is not at successful at the social media that we are told is working like videos. But they are more successful with personal endorsements from people trying to convince their friends.

This is a CNN video so Blogger won't let me embed it.


http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/03/23/intv-amanpour-aimen-dean-former-jihadist-mi5.cnn?iid=ob_article_footer_expansion&iref=obnetwork


http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2323137.1428836935!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_225/image.jpg 

Maliki wanted to be a sectarian leader, Obama wisely let him fail.

Maliki used his paranoia to widen the sectarian mistrust and fuel the ISIS invasion. He made it impossible to have an inclusive government so the outcome is predictable.

If Obama had acted then, the situation would be worse.  To help Maliki would have tarred USA with the same brush, to engender hatred against oppressors within Sunni community.

Instead, Obama wisely let him fail and the unintended consequence was the ISIS advance happened faster than expected. But ISIS would have invaded later on it was inevitable. 

By not propping Maliki up, Obama used the leverage of the situation to get a better deal from the Iraqi government. Now the Iraqi government, desperate to win, will need to accede to US demands that they would have ignored months ago.

Here's how Leaders lead from behind:

A leader that reacts to historical situations, the current crisis of the day, and the previous economic situation will always be playing catch up.

That is leading from behind.

In order to get ahead, they have to be out front extrapolating what the situation will be, the new opportunities that will appear, and planning to include those possibilities into the future posture.

That is getting ready for what comes next.

Being prepared for the future eliminates problems that will disappear if you make the best of the future situation.

Effective Proposal Writing: Making Words Impact Reviewers

I have some experience on larger robotics projects, so I think I can comment on the project process.  Above in the mosaic is some of them, not all I've worked on.  To date, I've written awarded proposals worth in excess of $4 million.

One plane ride I had the idea to write a simple quick book on how to write proposals for science and engineering.  So I took out a note pad and wrote a simple 17 pages.

I wrote a book on proposal writing like it was a proposal itself. 

Some day, I will write the premium version with details, but I will share my basic knowledge in summary for a steal.  For the $3 or so I'm asking, you will spend more on FEDEX for your tender bid.  If it helps you win even $50,000 then you won't regret the experience.  Or the price.
 
You can find this book on many sites:

Here's a sample:

What is the US strategy in Arabia: Let them devour each other...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/foreign-affairs-defense/frontline-fight-for-yemen/on-the-ground-in-yemen-six-questions-with-safa-al-ahmad/

There are at least five factions within Yemen fighting for control: Houthis, AQAP, former president's rebels, current president's army,  Southerners, Northerners, and the Populist movement. 

With so many fragmented groups, how can any group take and hold ground? When alliances can be set at noon and the next lunch time they are sniping each other? One side attacks and there is vengeance the next day.

After supporting the ex president, the US cannot take a leadership role given the factions united to attack and remove the Yemeni president. That and drone strikes antagonized AQAP areas.

The US has swung to isolationist in the schizophrenic empire spectrum for Arabia.

So what is the most practical action to take? For the US, stay on the sidelines and let them devour each other is my prediction.

One cannot peace keep until they are exhausted. Groups that are not exhausted will continue until they are eradicated, or victorious.
 
The Houthis claim that it is the US and the Israel's policy to destroy Islam. The irony is they are perpetuating the US policy on their own....

Obama is playing one side of Iran against the other.

Obama is playing one part of the Iranian community against each other. 

This is the smart part of bringing the Iranians to the table.  Unlike other Gulf nations, Iran has a smart educated middle class that is sympathetic to the ideals of the US when the moral police aren't looking.

To give the middle class prosperity is to make them amenable to  the ideals of capitalism. Just like Vietnam.

Blunt the Antagonists

Why did the US expose the plan to attack Mosul?

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/31/middleeast/iraq-isis-tikrit/index.html

They claim it's a warning to civilians that might want to flee in advance of the assault. But that's months away and if there isn't enough reason to leave Mosul today, it won't matter. It makes no sense.

So why then the warning?


Simple, the short goal is to win the war, the longer goal is to blunt all the aggressors.  If Iran is fighting on the side of Iraqi government forces, then the US does not want that to be an easy fight they want to attrit the Iranian forces as well because that makes them less of a threat in the future against Saudi and Jordanian forces.  Victory will come but the US planners are considering the outcome of current actions.

They warned ISIS to make them move forces forward to defend the advance which will make them easier to kill by exposing them on more fronts and then  forcing Iraqi forces to waste their strength against harder defenses in depth. 

The victory will come, but they can achieve a secondary goal of blunting ALL the antagonists. Sounds like karma to me for all those American casualties....