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CIA to Sunset the World Factbook

abc.net.au

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Re: CIA to Sunset the World Factbook

#271

Post by toyg »

seanw444 wrote: post #224
toyg wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a good joke, but it's also true that the whole charade of trying to look "institutional" and "fact-based" was a pretty decent way to go about pursuing the US agenda. "Hey we are the good guys, we show you real numbers" was a good line to push, and it could often show up the opposition as cranks and liars. Nowadays, nobody even pretends to not be a liar, from any side. There is no debate that even attempts to…

> In the long run, this can't hold. It's always held, management just changes. Money and power are two fundamental constants to human nature.

Sure, but assigning value to other things allows us to temper those brutal instincts. Otherwise we might as well live under military dictatorship.

Re: CIA to Sunset the World Factbook

#272

Post by mangodrunk »

toyg wrote: post #270
mangodrunk wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your grievance is that we won’t have good cover to pursue our interests when they conflict with the sovereignty and security of others? You think it was good to lie and say that we’re the good guys while we inflict harm on others?

Looking like you are trying to pursue the general interest is how we all get things like international tribunals, supranational organizations where conflicts are discussed and sometimes resolved, coordination to raise health standards and address natural disasters, etc etc. If the price to pay for those activities is sneaking in the occasional spy, or being a bit overzealous when defending certain business interests,…

Thanks for clarifying your position. I do see that model as only temporarily possible but eventually reality catches up with the propaganda, the Iraq war being a somewhat recent example. Also, as a citizen the previous model is also essentially requiring the government to lie to us, so I don’t think that as good either, because who will be benefiting from these “good guy” adventures?

Re: CIA to Sunset the World Factbook

#273

Post by ekianjo »

Sharlin wrote: post #71
ekianjo wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunate. So many essays that I wrote in school cited The World Facebook as a source. A source of propaganda? There's nothing the CIA does without political motivation.

The Factbook has always been widely regarded as a reliable source of information.

By the Western world aligned with the US?

Re: CIA to Sunset the World Factbook

#274

Post by toyg »

mangodrunk wrote: post #272
toyg wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking like you are trying to pursue the general interest is how we all get things like international tribunals, supranational organizations where conflicts are discussed and sometimes resolved, coordination to raise health standards and address natural disasters, etc etc. If the price to pay for those activities is sneaking in the occasional spy, or being a bit overzealous when defending certain business interests,…

Thanks for clarifying your position. I do see that model as only temporarily possible but eventually reality catches up with the propaganda, the Iraq war being a somewhat recent example. Also, as a citizen the previous model is also essentially requiring the government to lie to us, so I don’t think that as good either, because who will be benefiting from these “good guy” adventures?

> eventually reality catches up with the propaganda

Actually, I don't think that's necessarily the case. Look at the Chagos deal: that's the new reality created by international organizations catching up with the naked power of the original occupation, and pushing it into a corner. Again, far from perfect outcome (why Mauritius, etc etc), but quite a step forward from brutal colonialism. Humanity wins some and loses some, but at least we're still in the game. If we just give up and accept that might makes right, we slide backwards into the jungle.

Re: CIA to Sunset the World Factbook

#275

Post by mannanj »

sharkjacobs wrote: post #226
mannanj wrote: post #169

I don't understand why they created or obtained control of the world Factbook in the first place, anyone have a story around this? I thought the CIA was formed to represent rich people's interests and maybe in that way the Factbook was another trick to lend legitimacy to their organization.

> on July 26, CIA was officially born. Just a few months later, on October 1, CIA assumed all responsibility for the JANIS basic intelligence program. Shortly thereafter, JANIS was renamed the National Intelligence Survey (NIS), but continued along the same tradition, providing policymakers and military leaders with up-to-date data, maps, and other reference materials. > In 1971, the Factbook was created as an annual…

Thank you!

Re: CIA to Sunset the World Factbook

#276

Post by pickleRick243 »

regenschutz wrote: post #235
vonneumannstan wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you people even use the models or do you just lie about them? https://chatgpt.com/share/6984c899-6cc4-8013-a8f6-ec204ee631...

You're using the Research model that isn't available to Free users. As a pupil myself, I can vouch for the fact that nobody is using the Research models here. Even if a pupil does pay, they will either be too lazy to wait the nearly 10 minutes it takes for the AI to do its research, or they actually care about getting good grades and therefore won't outsource their research to AI.

I have bad news for you regarding pupils who "care about getting good grades"...

Re: CIA to Sunset the World Factbook

#277

Post by philipwhiuk »

lazide wrote: post #185
philipwhiuk wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Mexico_naming_controve... There's an entire article on it.

Now imagine that for toilet paper over the top, or over the bottom, or sitting on top of the toilet tank. And everything in between. We have plenty of bits, at least.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_paper_orientation

Drowning beneath your inability to Google.

Re: CIA to Sunset the World Factbook

#278

Post by DANmode »

bjourne wrote: post #197
drstewart wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Soft power is just a buzzword to give value to things that have zero demonstrable value. The CIA Factbook has played zero role in giving the US any measurable power.

In the early days of Wikipedia many articles were taken directly from the CIA Factbook since it was public domain. Numerous Wikipedians have fond memories of it and remembers it as something the US did that was actually good and not evil shit. That and America's Army. Cheap ways to gain goodwill. Maybe in the grand scheme of things it didn't matter.

America’s Army didn’t strike me as cheap at the time - but definitely was in the context of the budget of the US military.

Re: CIA to Sunset the World Factbook

#279

Post by 0sdi »

Retric wrote: post #252
0sdi wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans famously have near-zero knowledge of other countries. Nothing valuable was lost in this aspect. You need something new.

You completely misunderstood what everyone was talking about. The point is to make people in other countries do what we want them to do. American diplomacy, foreign policy, spying, soft, and hard power etc is obviously primarily targeting non Americans here. Thus like most things the CIA does this is targeting foreigners or foreign influence, though of course direct impact on Americans is a nice bonus. We don’t want…

I was trying to reply to a post that was worried about education in america. I messed up.
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