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14/04/2010 - New OECD figures show continuing growth in development aid in 2009, despite the financial crisis.
Total net official development assistance (ODA) from the donors in the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) rose 0.7% in real terms, but the rise was 6.8% once debt relief, a volatile item, is excluded (see table for 2009).
|The OECD Secretary General, Angel Gurría, welcomed news of the further increase in ODA and urged donors to keep the momentum going in future years, despite their fiscal challenges. "Aid is less than 1% of government spending on average in OECD countries while there is still much effort needed to reach the Millenium Development Goals. This is a vital investment with big returns for the world as a whole" he observed.
The DAC Chair, Eckhard Deutscher, pointed out that a clear majority of DAC members are meeting their aid commitments even in the face of the economic crisis. Though there has been an encouraging increase in ODA to Africa, Deutscher pointed out that this fell well short of the Gleneagles target of a USD 25 billion increase by 2010. "Aid financing remains vital to meet the MDGs," he observed, "so all donors need to make the efforts necessary to meet their commitments."
ODA in 2009
In 2009, total net official development assistance (ODA) from members of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) rose slightly in real terms (+0.7%) to USD 119.6 billion, representing 0.31% of DAC members' combined gross national income. Debt relief, which had been especially high in 2005 and 2006 due to exceptional Paris Club packages for Iraq and Nigeria, fell sharply. Excluding debt relief, the rise in ODA in real terms was +6.8%.
If debt relief and humanitarian aid are excluded, bilateral aid for development programmes and projects rose by 8.5% in real terms, as donors continued to scale up their core development projects and programmes. Most of the rise was in new lending (+20.6%), but grants also increased (+4.6%, excluding debt relief).
In 2009, net bilateral ODA to Africa was USD 27 billion, representing an increase of 3% in real terms over 2008. USD 24 billion of this aid went to sub-Saharan Africa, an increase of 5.1% over 2008.
Donor performance
In 2009, the largest donors by volume were the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan. Five countries exceeded the United Nations ODA target of 0.7% of GNI: Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
The largest percentage increases in net ODA in real terms were from Norway, France, the United Kingdom, Korea (which joined the DAC with effect from 1 January 2010), Finland, Belgium and Switzerland. Significant increases were also recorded in Denmark, Sweden and the United States.
In 2009, the United States was the largest donor providing USD 28.7 billion in net ODA flows, representing an increase of 5.4% in real terms over 2008. Its ODA/GNI ratio rose from 0.19% in 2008 to 0.20% in 2009. Total net US ODA flows increased to each region, particularly to sub-Saharan Africa (+10.5% to USD 7.5 billion). ODA also increased significantly to Afghanistan (+39.5% to USD 3.0 billion). US net ODA to the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) increased by +13.6% to USD 8.1 billion.
Japan's net ODA fell by 10.7% in real terms to USD 9.5 billion, representing 0.18% of its GNI. The fall was mainly due to the fact that debt relief, notably for Iraq, fell compared to 2008. However, contributions to international financial institutions increased significantly in 2009.
The combined net ODA of the fifteen members of the DAC that are EU members fell slightly (-0.2%) to USD 67.1 billion, representing 0.44% of their combined GNI. DAC-EU ODA represented 56% of total DAC ODA.
In real terms, net ODA rose in seven DAC-EU countries as follows:
Aid fell in the following DAC-EU countries:
Aid by EU institutions rose by 4.4% to USD 15.0 billion, mainly due to an increase in grant programmes.
Net ODA rose or fell in other DAC countries as follows:
Gross ODA (i.e. ODA without subtracting loan repayments) in 2009 amounted to USD 132.7 billion (see table for 2009). The largest donors were: the United States (USD 29.5 billion), Japan (USD 16.5 billion), France (USD 15.3 billion), Germany (USD 13.3 billion) and the United Kingdom (USD 11.7 billion).
The following non-DAC members reported changes in their net ODA in 2009 as follows:
What are the expected aid levels for 2010?
At the Gleneagles G8 and Millennium +5 summits in 2005, donors made specific commitments to increase their aid. When quantified by the OECD Secretariat, the pledges implied lifting aid from around USD 80 billion in 2004 to nearly USD 130 billion in 2010, at constant 2004 prices, representing 0.36% of estimated GNI in 2010.
On 17 February 2010, the OECD released its first estimate of the 2010 ODA outcome, based on a special review of donors' budget plans for 2010. This estimate has now been updated in light of the DAC donors' 2009 performance and some further adjustments to the 2010 targets. In general, GNI reported by DAC donors for 2009 was slightly higher than previously estimated and the GNI prospects for 2010 are also slightly improved.
The OECD now estimates that the recent economic contraction has, by cutting nominal GNI, reduced the dollar value of the commitments made for 2010 to around USD 126 billion (in constant 2004 dollars), or USD 46 billion over the 2004 level, compared with the original estimate of USD 50 billion.
While most countries have maintained their commitments for 2010, others, including some large donors, have reduced or postponed the pledges they made for 2010. On the basis of current 2010 budget proposals and latest GNI figures:
2010 is a key year for DAC-EU donors, who in 2005 aimed to reach a collective total of 0.56% of GNI in net ODA for that year, with a minimum country target of 0.51%. 2010 is also special for DAC-EU donors as it represents the midpoint between the 2005 commitments and the 2015 target date for meeting the 0.7% ODA/GNI level.
Some will surpass that goal: Sweden, with the world's highest ODA as a percentage of its GNI at 1.01%, is followed by Luxembourg (1%), Denmark (0.83%), the Netherlands (0.8%), Belgium (0.7%), the United Kingdom (now estimated at 0.60%), Finland (0.56%), Ireland (0.52%) and Spain (0.51%).
But others are unlikely to reach the target, although some have made significant progress since 2004: France (estimated at between 0.44 and 0.48%, 0.46% is used in the attached projections), Germany (0.40%), Austria (0.37%), Portugal (0.34%), Greece (0.21%), and Italy (0.20%).
Other DAC countries made varying ODA commitments for 2010, and most, but not all, will fulfil them. The United States pledged to double its aid to sub-Saharan Africa between 2004 and 2010 and already attained this goal in 2009. Canada aimed to double its 2001 International Assistance Envelope level by 2010 in nominal terms, Australia aimed to reach $A 4 billion, and New Zealand planned to reach 0.28% of its GNI.
These three countries all appear on track to meet these objectives, and Australia and New Zealand have since set further targets for later years. Norway will maintain its ODA level of 1% of its GNI, and Switzerland will likely reach 0.47% of its GNI, exceeding its previous commitment of 0.41%.
Japan's Gleneagles promise was to give USD 10 billion more over the period 2005 to 2009 than if its ODA had stayed at its 2004 level over this period. It fell short by USD 3.6 billion due mainly to severe economic and budgetary constraints, as well as significant early repayments on ODA loans by some borrowing countries. For 2010, Japan aims to increase its ODA, although since the exact level is not yet known the projections below use the 2009 figure for the time being.
Despite various shortfalls against commitments, ODA increased by nearly 30% in real terms between 2004 and 2009, and is expected to rise by about 36% in real terms between 2004 and 2010. ODA as a percentage of GNI rose from 0.26% in 2004 to 0.31% in 2009 and is expected to rise to 0.32% in 2010. This is the largest volume increase ever in ODA over such a period and does not depend on the large increase in debt relief which boosted the aid numbers in 2005-07. The continued growth in ODA has shown that aid pledges are effective when backed up with adequate resources, political will and firm multi-year spending plans. ODA will continue to rise in 2010, unlike other financial flows to developing countries which have fallen sharply since the onset of the global financial crisis.
» DAC Member's Commitments and Performance: Summary Tables of OECD Secretariat Projections
» DAC member's net ODA 1990 - 2009 and DAC Secretariat Simulations of net ODA to 2010.
For more information, please contact Helen Fisher by email: firstname.lastname@example.com or by telephone: +331 45 24 80 97.
Related Documents


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Archive of the Former Wiki Home Page
IESG Quick Links and Semi-Complete Guide
Notice an omission or error? Please work with the IESG and edit this page.
Quick Links
Most-used Wiki pages
- InformalAgenda - the agenda for the next informal telechat; add items here
- UpcomingIetf - booking the IESG breakout room and showing arrival times
- MeetingTopics - Suggested topics for the next face-to-face meeting
- AdditionalMeetingRooms - How to request additional meeting rooms for side meetings and such
- RetreatInfo - information about the upcoming IESG retreat
- DownrefRegistry - which documents have been Last Called as Downrefs following RFC 3967 (BCP 97) procedure (The Downref Registry has been moved into the datatracker as of 14 April 2017.)
- IesgOnlyEtiquette - when to use and not to use iesg-only mailing list
IESG liaisons to other things
- Mirja -- IAB
- Éric -- NomCom
- Roman -- Tools team
- Warren -- Edu team
- Mirja, Alvaro, Warren, Benjamin -- Comms review
IESG mailing lists administrators
- Martin Vigoureux
- Suresh Krishnan
- Secretariat
Meeting with Leaders of other Standards Bodies
See a list of historic meetings.
There are no upcoming meetings.
Some Things We're Currently Working On
- FoldingInUpdates - Advice on folding in updates when progressing a document from PS to IS (Barry and Brian)
- QuickWorkingGroups - Quickly chartering short-lived, tightly scoped working groups with short schedules (Barry and Pete)
- MailingListArchiving - Proposed IESG Statement regarding mailing list archiving (Pete)
- NewCharteringProcess - How to charter a new working group (old documentation is out of date)
- CharterInternalReviewBlockCriteria - Proposed criteria for balloting 'Block' during IESG internal review of a WG charter proposed for external review.
- Draft2119BoilerplateSuggestions - Proposed boilerplate for use with RFC2119 that allows the use of RFC2119 keywords in normal text if they are not in all-uppercase.
- BadDiffExamples - Examples of massive fail when diffing documents for review.
- SpecialUseTopLevelDomainProcess - How to deal with requests for special use TLDs
- PerpassDiscussCriteria - how the IESG approaches draft-farrell-perpass-attack
- IesgReorgMessages - Proposed messages to the community on the IESG Re-organization
- IetfValues - in-progress write-up of suggested IETF values
- WgIprDiscussions - in-progress writeup on guidance to working groups about making informed decisions about IPR.
- ModernFormatsDiscussion - in-progress capturing current IESG thoughts on updating RFC canonical format
- LiaisonPurposes - discussing role of IAB and IESG liaisons
- MeetingExperiments - documenting experiments tried for WG meeting
- NumberOfAuthors - IESG Statement on the Number of Authors in an IETF Document (Alvaro and Terry)
- UseOfUpdatesTag - IESG Statement on the use and meaning of the "Updates" and "Updated by" tags.
- 2ndRetreat - agenda bash for possible 2nd retreat in 2019
- Secretariat tools - see also IssueTracking and how to send a ticket.
- Prototype tools by the IETF Tools Team pages.
- Notes on tools in progress, WishLists for tools.
- Sites for IESG's OwnContent
- Process BCPs FormallyAccepted by the ISOC Board.
- IESG Statements
Getting Started as an AD
An IESG Charter, RFC 3710 (2004)
First Steps
- Work with the secretariat to verify that you are set up as an AD with the various tools. Your existing tools login is used for most things, most importantly the datatracker. You should also get a login/password pair from the secretariat for the ARO tools, and a separate pair from the RFC Editor for working with errata.
- Ask the current IESG members if that's the complete list of passwords - update the above bullet if it isn't.
- Join a bunch of MailingLists.
Basic AD Responsibilities:
- Summary of Desired Expertise for NomCom
- ManageWorkingGroup and picking chairs
- PlanningYear
- MeetingsPlanning
- Handling When Two ADs in the Same Area Have the Same Affiliation
Document Sponsoring and Telechat Information:
- PublishPath
- AD Review Checklist
- DocumentOntoAgenda
- CharteringOntoAgenda
- Reviewing Documents and Registrations (MIME Media Types, URI/URN, MIB)
- Collection of issues frequently found by Application Area ADs
- Guidelines for Issues Found during TSVDIR Reviews
- FrontPageAuthors
- DiscussResolving
- Working with the RFC Editor on Independent Submissions
- Obsoleting RFCs belonging to other Streams
- Information about informal telechats
- ProcessingErrata
When you surface after joining the IESG long enough to think about "steering", instead of just reviewing docs for telechats
- https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3774 is a snapshot of what the community thought the IETF needed to fix in 2004. It is still relevant, and that is not a good sign ...
Other Intros
- HowDoing: Tools to monitor AD and WG progress
- CaffeineIetf
- DisruptivePeople
- NewbieQuestions - other collected new-to-IESG questions
- IesgInternal - when we need to communicate in private and how
Driving Lessons for the I-D Tracker
What we call the "IESG Tracker" is actually the Area Director's window into the IETF-wide ID-Tracker. It was introduced in May 2002, and was a huge advance in our awareness of document status and progress.
Use the tracker to:
- Initiate Last Calls (LastCallDetails)
- Create document ballots, build meeting agendas and clear returning items (DocumentOntoAgenda)
- Lets ADs fill in ballots (BallotDetails)
- Initiates approval announcement messages (ApprovalDetails)
- Sends email to a list when the document changes state (TrackerNotifications)
- Defer a draft to the next telechat
The Ballot Process in General
When a draft has an open ballot each AD can cast a vote, and the options available are:
There's more detail about what these mean at
voting-procedures, SingleDiscussResolution and InfoExpProcedures for non-standards track and RFC Editor submissions.
You can also see the IESG Statement on the Discuss Criteria to be used (and not used) when placing a Discuss.
An AD can change his or her vote up to a late stage, i.e. during the telechat at which the document is finally approved. However, it's much better to cast your ballot early.
If an AD hasn't had time to review a draft but really feels the need to do so (i.e. is unwilling to state NO OBJECTION without further ado), it's possible to DEFER the draft to the next telechat - once only. Most ADs feel bad if they have to do this.
The Role of Document Shepherds
RFC 4858 defines the role of the Document Shepherd for documents from IETF working groups, and it also says:
The Document Shepherd is usually a chair of the working group that has produced the document. In consultation with the Responsible Area Director, the chairs may instead decide to appoint the working group secretary as the responsible Document Shepherd.
Experience has shown that a successful Document Shepherd need not be the working group chair or secretary. In fact, the IESG encourages the working group chair to select an active working group participant that has strong understanding of the document content, is familiar with the document history, and is familiar with the IETF standards process. The Document Shepherd of a working group document should not be an author or editor of the document.
Not all individual submissions have a Document Shepherd other than an author or editor of the document. When there is one, the Document Shepherd is selected by the Responsible Area Director in consultation with the document authors or editors.
The main duties of a Document Shepherd are:
- Providing the Document Shepherd Write-Up accompanying a document that is forwarded to the IESG when publication is requested.
- During AD Evaluation of the document by the responsible Area Director, managing the discussion between the editors, the working group and the responsible Area Director.
- During the IETF Last Call, if required for the document, managing the discussion between the reviewers, the editors, the working group and the Responsible Area Director.
- During IESG evaluation, following up on all IESG feedback ("DISCUSS" and "COMMENT" items) related to the shepherded document.
- Following up on IANA and RFC Editor requests after IESG approval.
The Document Shepherd prepares a publication request write-up. The template for the write-up can be found here:
For working group documents: http://www.ietf.org/iesg/template/doc-writeup.html
For individual documents: http://www.ietf.org/iesg/template/individual-doc-writeup.html
DISCUSSes and How They Get Resolved
The DISCUSS ballot is the way for an AD to state an issue that prevents him or her from agreeing that a document is ready. A DISCUSS is not a binary vote - as its name suggests, it is a statement of what the AD has found wrong with a draft, preferably also a statement of how it could be fixed, and the trigger for a constructive discussion to resolve it as quickly as possible. Here is more information about DiscussResolving.
Processes for Uncommon Stuff
- NewWork - From Ideas to BOFs to Chartering
- HistoricStatus - Status Change Documents (was: Moving documents to Historic)
- IntellectualProperty - Sometimes patents cause process concerns
- TrustAppointments - according to draft-ietf-iasa2-trust-update
Non-Working-Group Mailing Lists
Non-working-group mailing lists are used for various sorts of discussions, including:
- Directorates and review teams
- Review lists specified in IANA procedures
- Discussions with the intent to form a working group
- Discussions for a subtask of a working group
The list of non-working-group mailing lists is here: http://www.ietf.org/list/nonwg.html
Scroll to the bottom of that page for instructions for creating a new one.
Working with Other Groups
These links are to wiki pages describing IESG working relationships with:
More groups with special relationships to the IESG:
- IesgLaw - although most of the time legal issues can be handled by IASA
- SecretariatInteraction - working with the Secretariat
- IesgNomcom - IESG Interaction with NomCom
- DirectoratesTeams
- IesgNominating - positions we nominate
Liaison relationships
The formal responsibility for handling liaisons and especially liaisons relations with external standard bodies are on IAB. However an AD will commonly be in the path for handling liaison statements and especially replies to received ones. The general process for handling liaisons are specified in RFC4053.
The IAB procedure for handling liaison responsibilities are documented in RFC4052. This includes creating formal relations and appoint liaison to bodies or liaison managers.
Working with the RFC Editor
IESG members need to work closely with the RFC Editor, and track interactions with the RFC Editor. The main tasks include:
- Ensuring that the RFC Editor notes in the approved documents are correct. Often the discuss-clearing involves changing or adding text, and the most expedient way of handling small updates is the use of RFC Editor notes. RFC Editor notes are entered in the document's "ballot text".
- Note that sometimes late reviews or other reasons cause changes to be useful even after approval. Editing RFC Editor notes is possible after approval, but should be avoided as a general case. If you ever find a need to do a change to the RFC Editor notes, send mail to the RFC Editor to inform that a change has happened. Alternatively, wait to AUTH48 for the changes.
- Ensuring that the changes suggested by authors in AUTH48 fall under editorial class, and authorizing other changes where needed. Sometimes significant changes are attempted at this stage for various reasons. The right response in such cases is typically taking the draft back to the working group and going through the WGLC, LC, and IESG approval again.
- Performing a conflict review (see Section 3 of RFC 5742) against documents in the Independent Stream and IRTF Stream. A separate note regarding the conflict review process can be found here: IesgRfceditorSubmissions.
Useful Mailing Lists or Addresses
<wg>-chairs@… - mail the chairs of <wg>
<area>-chairs@… - mail all the chairs of <area> ("<area>" is one of app, gen, int, ops, rai, rtg, sec, tsv)
<ad-name>-chairs@… - mail all the chairs of WGs for which <ad-name> is responsible (john-smith-chairs, for example)
<wg>-ads@… - mail the ADs of <wg>; note that this is the same as <area>-ads for the area in which <wg> resides... it does not send mail only to the AD responsible for <wg>
<area>-ads@… - mail the ADs of <area> ("<area>" is one of app, gen, int, ops, rai, rtg, sec, tsv)
irtf-announce@… - IRTF announcement list, including progress reports for the different reserach groups. https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/irtf-announce
tools-discuss@… - The mailing list for IETF Tools announcements and discussion. https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/tools-discuss
The IESG has a private Wiki.
The IETF Chair has a demanding ChairTimeline to plan IETF meetings.
C code in I-Ds should do bound checking. The exception is when the code is a fragment and it's clear that it's a fragment. In that case a prominent note in the module needs to say "this is a code fragment, when this fragment is implemented as part of [insert_protocol_name] implement bound checking".
Wiki page for LegacyErrataHandling.
Wiki page for DocumentLanguageEditing session in London.
Wiki page for SpeakingForIetf.
Wiki page for DealingWithPrivateFeedbackInIetfProcess.
Wiki page for EnsuringAppropriateDiscussionOnIetfAtIetfList.
Dealing with some complicate IANA Registries: MediaTypes (a.k.a. MIME Types)
Some abandoned or obsolete stuff that's nonetheless useful to save
- DraftShepherdWriteupWgAlternate - A new proposal for a radical change to the shepherd writeup, as discussed at IETF 84. This is a version that strips out all the yes/no sorts of things and instead asks for a paragraph or two of information in each of five categories. (This is now part of the normal shepherd writeup documentation.)
- DraftNoteWellSummary - A draft version of a very short Note Well summary. (This is now dead.)
- DraftBoilerplateChange - A draft of a change to the boilerplate for cases where we are publishing something (such as documentation of a vendor-specific mechanism) where the community has consensus to publish, but consensus on the content doesn't make sense. (The IAB has chosen not to approve this, but the text is still useful as an IESG note in such documents.)
- Off Duty - The IESG off duty page is now on the IESG Private Wiki.

subset: commoncrawl


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Our writer Steve Vickers brings you the latest from the world of travel, including news of direct flights from Europe to Indonesia and an update on the surf park that's making waves in northern Spain.
Pirate films inspire Chinese theme park
More details are beginning to emerge about the new Shanghai Disney Resort, and there's some good news for film fans. The vast park, which opens in December 2015, will feature an entire zone themed around the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise – a series of films which was actually originally inspired by a ride at Disneyland in California.
Disney says 'Treasure Cove' will include a state-of-the-art boat ride with characters and scenes "derived directly from the movies". Ironically, many Chinese visitors will never have had the chance to see every film in the series; the second movie – Dead Man's Chest – was buried by Chinese censors.
Europe to Jakarta non-stop
Indonesia's national airline – once banned from landing within the EU because of safety concerns – is about to launch direct flights from Jakarta to Amsterdam. The reinvented Garuda Indonesia, which joined the Skyteam airline alliance earlier this month, will start operating non-stop flights between the two capitals on the 30th May using its fleet of brand-new Boeing 777s. The same planes will eventually continue to London Gatwick before returning to Jakarta (again via Amsterdam), but if you want to fly that stretch you'll have to wait until September.
Scotland and the "joy of missing out"
A few years back, while researching a book for Rough Guides on the Isle of Mull, I had a head-on crash with another car. No one was hurt, but both cars were wrecked and it was miles to the nearest village. We looked to our mobile phones for help. No signal.
© Mike Charles/Shutterstock
It's a common problem in rural Scotland, where the infrastructure has failed to keep pace with the mobile revolution. But now the PR folks at Visit Scotland are hoping that this lack of connectivity – which they're calling JOMO, or the "joy of missing out" – will attract tourists, rather than scaring them away. According to a recent trends report released by the tourist board, Scotland's off-grid locations give visitors the chance to reject technology and seek 'meaningful and emotional experiences'.
Though as the report itself admits, the majority of tourists would not see a forced digital detox as something desirable. And for as long as sites like Facebook and Tripadvisor remain a part of the modern travel experience – not to mention unfortunate mishaps like my car crash – that looks unlikely to change.
Airbus A380 feeling the squeeze
When the A380 superjumbo first took to the skies, much of the publicity centred on how spacious its economy class felt, compared with smaller planes. That could be about to change. According to a report on Runway Girl Network, Airbus is planning to raise the floor of the aircraft's cabin slightly, giving airlines the opportunity to squeeze another seat into each row, increasing the total number from ten to 11. The change would leave enough room for 18-inch-wide seats (with a block of five in the middle) and make it possible for airlines to sell around 40 extra economy tickets per flight. Will the temptation be too much?
New waves on the horizon
Huge artificial wave pools could soon be appearing across Europe, making it possible for surfers to hang ten year-round, even in places hundreds of miles from the nearest natural break. The first Wavegarden is currently being tested at a lagoon in northern Spain, and is kicking out consistently clean waves that peel for more than 200m. Similar centres are already being planned for Bristol in England and Varberg in southern Sweden, and there are rumours of wave parks opening in Portugal and France: two nations with no shortage of natural waves.
Russian visa rules could be relaxed
Western nations reacted to the tense situation in Crimea by imposing travel bans on high-profile Russians. Then, with impeccable timing, Russia announced it would be moving in the opposite direction – relaxing its visa rules in a bid to attract more visitors, including tourists from Europe and the USA. According to the Russian political newspaper Pravda, government officials will soon start reviewing a bill that proposes to streamline the visa application process and increase the maximum stay from 30 days to six months – which is, let's face it, a much more practical amount of time exploring the world's biggest country.
Final call
This month's steaming slice of travel inspiration comes from Chris Arnold, who captures Vietnam's tourist hotspots through a soft haze of rain, smog and lantern light.
V I E T from Chris Arnold on Vimeo.
See the ultimate travel inspiration here. Book hostels for your trip, and don't forget to purchase travel insurance before you go.


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The Obama administration's choice to head the National Intelligence Council (NIC) recently withdrew in face of a concerted right-wing attack. Veteran diplomat Chas Freeman would not have had to face Senate confirmation. Instead, he had to face attacks in the right-wing press and blogosphere. His withdrawal was a victory for Bush-era neoconservatives and their allies regarding intelligence and broader Middle East Policy.
The NIC chairmanship is structured to offer a skeptical view on U.S. intelligence. With his broad knowledge and experience in East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Latin America, Freeman would appear to be an ideal appointee. Fluent in both major dialects of Chinese, he accompanied President Richard Nixon on his historic 1972 trip to China. Later, he served as principal deputy assistant secretary of State for African affairs, assistant secretary of Defense for international security affairs, and as ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War. After retiring from the State Department, Freeman succeeded former senator and 1972 Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern as head of the Middle East Policy Council, a centrist Washington think tank.
Those closest to Freeman have confirmed that his decision was indeed his own. Neither the president nor Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, who had offered Freeman the position, asked him to withdraw his acceptance of the NIC post. At the same time, the White House's refusal to come to Freeman's defense in the face of misleading and defamatory attacks is reminiscent of the Clinton White House's abandonment of assistant attorney general nominee Lani Guinier in similar circumstances back in 1993.
The Sin of Being Right on Iraq
Freeman announced his withdrawal just hours after Blair praised Freeman before the Senate Intelligence Committee for his "wealth of knowledge and expertise in defense, diplomacy and intelligence." The seven Republican members of the committee didn't, however, welcome these attributes when they spoke out strongly against his appointment. Particularly upsetting to Freeman's right-wing opponents were his statements acknowledging the disastrous consequences of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a decision backed not only by Republicans but by such key Senate Democrats as Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), an outspoken supporter of the invasion, kept pressing Blair on the Freeman appointment during the hearing, to which Blair replied that such criticism was based on a misunderstanding of the position. "I can do a better job if I'm getting strong analytical viewpoints to sort out and pass on to you and the president than if I'm getting precooked pablum judgments that don't really challenge," Blair said. Lieberman, clearly unsatisfied with Blair's response, promised he would continue to press the issue.
Freeman had raised the ire of war supporters in his articles and speeches exposing the errors of Bush policy in the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. "Al-Qaeda has played us with the finesse of a matador exhausting a great bull by guiding it into unproductive lunges at the void behind his cape," Freeman said, noting how invading Iraq appeared to the world's Muslims as "a wider war against Islam." Freeman further observed: "We destroyed the Iraqi state and catalyzed anarchy, sectarian violence, terrorism, and civil war in that country."
Not surprisingly, the bipartisan group attacking the appointment was led by such staunch supporters of the invasion of Iraq as Representatives Mark Kirk (R-IL), Steve Israel (D-NY), John Boehner (R-OH), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), and Eric Cantor (R-VA). Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), another outspoken supporter of the invasion of Iraq, insisted that "Freeman was the wrong guy for this position." Schumer even tried to take credit for Freeman's withdrawal, claiming, "I repeatedly urged the White House to reject him, and I am glad they did the right thing."
By contrast, those supporting intelligence assessments based on the facts rather than ideology had praised the appointment as an example of a shift away from the Bush administration policy. Freeman has "spent a goodly part of the last 10 years raising questions that otherwise might never get answered - or even asked - because they're too embarrassing, awkward, or difficult," Dan Froomkin of NiemanWatch observed. "For him to be put in charge of [the NIC]...is about the most emphatic statement the Obama administration could possibly make that it won't succumb to the kind of submissive intelligence-community groupthink that preceded the war in Iraq."
James Fallows of The Atlantic noted how "anyone who has worked in an organization knows how hard it is, but how vital, to find intelligent people who genuinely are willing to say inconvenient things even when everyone around them is getting impatient or annoyed. The truth is, you don't like them when they do that. You may not like them much at all. But without them, you're cooked."
Smear Campaign
In the days following Blair's appointment of Freeman, the attacks grew more and more bizarre. For example, since the Middle East Policy Council had received some grants from some Saudi-based foundations, Freeman was accused of thereby being "on the Saudi payroll" and even being a "Saudi puppet." In The New Republic, Martin Peretz insisted that Freeman was "a bought man." But it's certainly not unprecedented for presidential appointees to have worked with nonprofit organizations that have received support from foreign governments. Indeed, Dennis Ross, appointed last month as Special Advisor for the Gulf and Southwest Asia, is still listed as the board chair of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, which is supported by the Israeli government.
To set the record straight, Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Freeman had "never lobbied for any government or business (domestic or foreign)" and that he had "never received any income directly from Saudi Arabia or any Saudi-controlled entity."
In another irony, the person identified as the principal orchestrator of the attacks against Freeman - including the charge that he was a Saudi agent - was Steven Rosen, former director of the right-wing American-Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Rosen currently faces espionage charges for transferring classified materials to the Israeli government. M.J. Rosenberg, a former colleague of Rosen who now serves as policy director of the Israel Policy Forum, said "you couldn't have picked anyone less credible to lead the charge" against Freeman. But Rosen's smear campaign was apparently credible enough to force Freeman to turn down the position.
Another line of attack was that Freeman, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, was a "China apologist." Critics cited quotes allegedly made by Freeman, many taken out of context, that appeared to justify repression by the Beijing regime, including the 1989 crackdown against pro-democracy activists. According to Blair, however, Freeman - who has spoken of the Tiananmen Square massacre as a "tragedy" - wasn't describing his own views but was simply observing what he considered to be "the dominant view in China." Similarly, a number of leading China experts came to Freeman's defense as well, with Jerome Cohen noting that claims of Freemen endorsing the 1989 repression were "ludicrous" and Sidney Rittenberg observing that as a U.S. diplomat in Beijing, Freeman was "a stalwart supporter of human rights who helped many individuals in need."
Yet Peretz falsely claimed that Freeman had "made himself a client of China" and was a man with "no humane or humanitarian scruples" who wanted the United States to "kow-tow to authoritarians and tyrants." Nor did it stop the National Review from claiming that Freeman's appointment proved "you can go directly from effectively working for the Saudis and Chinese to being the country's top intelligence analyst."
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None of those attacking Blair's appointments on the grounds of supposedly supporting authoritarian regimes has ever raised concerns about Admiral Blair himself. Blair served as the head of the U.S. Pacific Command from February 1999 to May 2002, as East Timor was finally freeing itself from a quarter-century of brutal Indonesian occupation. As the highest-ranking U.S. military official in the region, he worked to undermine the Clinton administration's belated efforts to end the repression, promote human rights, and support the territory's right to self-determination. He also fought against congressional efforts to condition support for the Indonesian military on improving their poor human rights record. When human rights activists raised concerns about having a defender of death squads as the Director of National Intelligence, the Obama White House rushed to Blair's defense, something they were clearly not willing to do for Chas Freeman.
Criticizing Israeli Policies
Freeman's rightist critics also claimed that Freeman was "anti-Israel." For instance, Freeman rejected the Bush administration's policy of defending Israeli violence against Palestinians while insisting that the Palestinians had to unilaterally end their violence against Israelis. A number of Freeman's critics cited in horror Freeman's observation that until "Israeli violence against Palestinians" is halted, "it is utterly unrealistic to expect that Palestinians will stand down from violent resistance."
Freeman has been concerned for some time that U.S. policy is radicalizing the Palestinian population to the point of jeopardizing Israel's security interests. The United States had "abandoned the role of Middle East peacemaker to back Israel's efforts to pacify its captive and increasingly ghettoized Arab populations," he observed. "We wring our hands while sitting on them as the Jewish state continues to seize ever more Arab land for its colonists. This has convinced most Palestinians that Israel cannot be appeased and is persuading increasing numbers of them that a two-state solution is infeasible."
Ironically, a number of prominent Israeli academics, journalists, security analysts, military officers, and political leaders have made similar observations. Freeman's critics, however, believe that expressing such concerns makes Freeman - in the words of the Wall Street Journal - an "Israel basher." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a strident supporter of Israeli government policies, claimed that Freeman's views were "indefensible" and urged President Barack Obama to withdraw his appointment.
In his withdrawal statement, Freeman reiterated his concern that "the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for U.S. policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to adopt and sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel." He went on to observe that this "is not just a tragedy for Israelis and their neighbors in the Middle East; it is doing widening damage to the national security of the United States."
Obama's Silence
A number of diplomats and other State Department professionals who had known Freeman as a colleague spoke up in favor of his nomination, and challenged the defamatory and libelous attacks against him. For example, a letter signed by former UN ambassador Thomas Pickering, former ambassador to Israel Samuel Lewis, former ambassador to Afghanistan Samuel Neumann, and more than a dozen other current and former ambassadors noted: "We know Chas [Freeman] to be a man of integrity and high intelligence who would never let his personal views shade or distort intelligence assessments."
Similarly, a group of prominent former intelligence officials called the attacks against Freeman "unprecedented in their vehemence, scope, and target," noting how they were perpetrated by "pundits and public figures...aghast at the appointment of a senior intelligence official able to take a more balanced view of the Arab-Israel issue."
Yet despite so many mainstream officials coming to his defense, the Obama White House chose to remain silent.
Most pundits, as well as Freeman himself, have blamed the so-called "Israel Lobby" for forcing him out. While AIPAC itself was apparently not involved in the smear campaign, many of Freeman's harshest critics were among the strongest supporters of the Israeli right. However, the battle over Freeman's appointment was about a lot more than simply his views on Israel - or Saudi Arabia or China; it was about the integrity of our nation's intelligence system. Those who most exploited the false claims about nonexistent "weapons of mass destruction" in order to frighten the American public into supporting the U.S. invasion of Iraq were the most eager to deny Freeman the chairmanship of the NIC.
And Freeman's willingness to ask the big questions frightened many on the right. For example, following 9/11, Freeman shared his disappointment that "instead of asking what might have caused the attack, or questioning the propriety of the national response to it, there is an ugly mood of chauvinism." His ability to look inward instead of simply attack "the other" is what apparently made him unworthy in the eyes of his critics.
Prior to Freeman's decision to withdraw, Chris Nelson of the influential Nelson Report, a daily private newsletter read by top Washington policymakers, wrote: "If Obama surrenders to the critics and orders [Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair] to rescind the Freeman appointment to chair the NIC, it is difficult to see how he can properly exercise leverage, when needed, in his conduct of policy in the Middle East. That, literally, is how the experts see the stakes of the fight now under way."
Obama apparently didn't order Freeman's appointment to be rescinded. But Obama's refusal to come to Freeman's defense will make it all the more difficult for the president to challenge future right-wing attacks on his administration's policies in the Middle East and beyond. Smelling victory, the right will only become bolder in challenging any progressive inclinations in Obama's foreign policy.
As Joe Klein so aptly put it in his Time blog, "Barack Obama should take note. The thugs have taken out Chas Freeman. They will not rest. Their real target is you, Mr. President."


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Jim Jones Talks About Swag In Hip Hop: "From 15 To 30. I Changed The Demographic Of How People Dress" Then Asks Dame Dash "Did You Influence Jay-Z To Dress Like A Dweeb?"
Jim Jones on Complex
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Saturday, April 24, 2010
Fear, Gratitude and Clients
Image credits: Corcoran; Hand
3 comments:
- Shag from Brookline said...
Is there a link to this article available? Does the subject for your class relate in some way to the recent SCOTUS decision in Perdue v. Kenny on the award of legal fees? In over 50 years of practice, I was never in a situation where I could "scare" a client to obtain a bigger fee. But I was aware of criminal law practitioners who were reputed to have "connections" who were able to "scare" clients into the need for large upfront fees. Did Corcoran have ties with Wall Street?
- April 24, 2010 at 9:14:00 AM EDT
- Dan Ernst said...
Sorry, Shag, I don't know of an on-line location for the article. Corcoran practiced for some years at the leading NYC firm of Cotton & Franklin (the predecessor to Cahill Gordon & Reindel) from 1927 to 1932.
- April 24, 2010 at 1:40:00 PM EDT
- Shag from Brookline said...
Dan, thanks.
I "Googled" "Tommy the Cork" and the first item was a Washington Decoded website that features "The Tapping of 'Tommy the Cork'" noting at the end that the article first appeared in The Nation on 8 Feb 1986. The author is not disclosed, however. The article is 7 pages in length. Most likely it is not the same as Lichtman's article.
- April 25, 2010 at 6:57:00 AM EDT


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"Eye level is the most desirable place on the shelf, where we put new products or the more profitable items," says Kim Coffin, senior director at Sunflower Farmers Market, a 35-store southwestern chain. But these items cost you more. Look at both top and bottom shelves, where items like tea, cereal, and macaroni and cheese can be 50% to 60% cheaper per serving.
2. Try before you buy.
Ask if you can sample an item first, suggests Danielle Halstead, store manager of New Seasons Market in Vancouver, WA. "It's so easy for us to open a box or cut into one of those oranges before you buy a dozen." How to do it: Ask the manager or person in charge of the department for a sample, saying why. ("I've never had these crackers before. Would it be possible to taste them to see if I like them?")
3. Ask for a better price.
"I'll tell you something," says Meng Truong, owner of three Lee Lee International Supermarkets in Arizona. "If you ask for a deal, I almost never say no." Whether you've found a lower price elsewhere or are buying in bulk, it's worth trying. Many chains like Whole Foods have a 10% unadvertised case or bulk discount—you just have to ask for it at the register, says Rae Van Seenus, marketing supervisor for Whole Foods Market in Santa Barbara, CA.
4. Shop just after deliveries.
"At our stores, we have three fish shipments a week, on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday," says Truong. "If you want it super-fresh, come at noon on those days." At your local store, ask for each department's regular delivery schedule and plan your weekly shopping accordingly.
5. Choose your store based on dry goods prices, not bread and milk.
Day-to-day items that sell in high volumes, like dairy and bread, are sold at close to cost, says Truong, which is why a sale on milk only saves you a few cents. But dry goods and items that fill the centers of stores for months on end? They often have much higher markups, and when they're on sale it can mean discounts as high as 50% to 60%. That's why the same box of cereal can be $5.99 at one store and $3.99 on sale at another. Simply skim the weekly ads for prices on your favorite cereals, coffee, canned goods and beverages.
6. Get to know the managers.
"You want that personal relationship that you used to have with, say, the butcher," says Halstead. Introduce yourself, and let them know when you shop and what you're looking for—whether that's the lowest prices or the best cuts of beef. They'll want to keep you as a customer, so they'll often tell you about sales that haven't been announced yet. They can also put aside sale items for you before they sell out. Best part: Managers can teach you how to maximize your coupons—just ask.
7. Want organic? Look for the number 9.
Say goodbye to produce aisle confusion. "Look for the little sticker on the item," says Halstead. "All stickers have a four-digit code. If there's a 9 in front of it, it means it's organic."


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I found the following reviews in the web site of the library of the US Central Intelligence Agency at https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-52-no-1/the-intelligence-officer2019s-bookshelf.html
Intelligence Services AbroadB. Raman, The Kaoboys of R&AW: Down Memory Lane (New Delhi: Lancer Publishers, 2007), 294 pp., index.
———, Intelligence: Past, Present and Future (New Delhi: Lancer Publishers, 2002), 416 pp., bibliography, index.
K. Sankaran Nair, Inside IB and RAW: The Rolling Stone that Gathered Moss (New Delhi, Manus Publications, 2008), index.
History has always been important to retired Indian intelligence officer B. Raman. In Kaoboys of R&AW, citing the CIA "historical division"precedent, (27) he reveals that in 1983 Rameshwar Nath Kao, the first chief of India's foreign intelligence service—the Research & AnalysisWing—established a historical section. Unfortunately, it was abolished in 1984 when Kao left office. Raman was not surprised; he knew thatin India organizational change often followed new leadership. Raman had joined the Indian Police Service in 1961 and was transferred in1967 to the External Division of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), then India's foreign intelligence element. He became a Kaoboy when R&AW wasestablished as an independent entity in 1968. After assignments in Paris and Geneva, he headed the Counter-Terrorism Division from 1988to 1994 and then retired to accept a cabinet secretariat position, where he served on various antiterrorism commissions and testified twicebefore the US Congress. After his permanent retirement, citing the precedents set by retired CIA officers, he decided to write thesememoirs.
Kaoboys of R&AW tells about India's struggle to develop a full range of intelligence service capabilities while at war with Pakistan and Chinaand while managing conflicts among religious factions and dealing with tribal disputes on its borders. Raman also examines charges of CIAdisinformation campaigns and covert action operations against India, R&AW efforts to counter domestic and foreign terrorist acts, and theconstant turf battles with the Indian domestic intelligence service, the IB.
The book has two central themes. The first is the relationship of R&AW to the prime ministers under which it served, and the problemscreated when two of them were assassinated. Those unfamiliar with India get a sense of its political history. The second theme is thepervasive threat to national security from Pakistan and separatist groups as well as the actions taken to deal with provocations andincidents. Raman does not provide operational detail in terms of tradecraft or case studies. There is a chapter on R&AW relations withforeign intelligence agencies that concentrates on high-level contacts with the CIA and French services. An example of the latter is a visitto the CIA by Kao where he is received positively by DCI George Bush. He views the relationship with the CIA as a mix of cooperation wheninterests coincide and the reality of the operational imperative. As an example of the latter, he mentions instances in which the CIArecruited two R&AW officers. He does not mention the reverse possibility.
Kaoboys of R&AW gives a good high-level overview of the formation, evolution, and current status of the Indian intelligence services.
In his earlier book, Intelligence, Raman presents a survey of Indian intelligence from colonial times, when the IB was created (he calls it the"world's second oldest internal security agency"—the French being the first) (1)—to the present eight intelligence agencies that form India'sintelligence community. His approach is topical, covering all elements of modern intelligence—military, political, technical, collection,analysis, covert action, counterintelligence, oversight, and management of the intelligence process. For comparison, he often refers to theexperience of US intelligence agencies and the commissions formed to investigate them. For example, as a basis for establishing India'smilitary intelligence element, he cites in great detail the precedents of DIA's formation and its evolution. (31–36) Similarly, the NSA, NRO,NGA and related agencies provide the rationale for counterparts in India. When discussing the requirement for good counterintelligence,examples from the UK are cited and the Aldrich Ames case is analyzed as an exemplar of what should and should not be done.
In short, Raman's Intelligence is a text book by an experienced intelligence officer who certainly understands the fundamental elements ofthe profession and provides a framework for successful operations, not only in India, but in any democratic society.
K. Sankaran Nair's Inside IB & RAW does not deserve the professional attention Raman's books have received. Although the dust jacketclaims Nair served as a head of R&AW, in fact, he held the post for less than 3 months in the 1970s.(174) He spent more time in the IB, andthe book has some interesting stories about his attempts in the 1960s to advise recently formed African nations about security services.Overall, though, he provides little beyond anecdotal "scribblings"(95) focusing on personal episodes and dealings with his superiors that areof no great intelligence value. It is a memoir covering his entire life, and while it no doubt recounts some impressive politicalaccomplishments, it is primarily of local interest and a minor contribution to the intelligence literature.
Friday, June 20, 2008
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With twenty years of experience as the director and owner of a girls' residential camp, I thought I was well prepared for any situation that could affect campers. So not only as a parent, but as a camp director, was I totally shocked when my eight-year-old son Michael told me one night between sobs that another boy at his day camp had been touching his private areas.
Michael and I spent the rest of the evening "rehearsing" what he should do if this were to happen again. I reassured him that he had done nothing wrong. I rubbed his tummy and he practiced saying, "Stop! I'm telling a counselor." Michael insisted that we do this role-play at least ten times before he finally fell asleep.
Although he was very reluctant, I brought Michael back to camp to meet with the camp directors. He explained that Adam, a boy in his age group, would grab both his and other boys' genitals as they were changing for swimming in the locker room. The directors assured Michael that from now on, a counselor would always be in the locker room while the boys were changing.
Confident in their assurances, I insisted that Michael stay at camp. I felt it was best if he faced his fears. When it came time to go to camp the next morning, Michael cried terribly and told me that yesterday he had again been in the locker room without a counselor. I called and spoke to the camp director again and told her I could not send Michael to camp until Adam left camp and the locker room was locked when no staff members were present. I also told her that I felt strongly that the parents of all boys in Michael's group should be given a list of questions to ask their child to see if Adam had also touched their son. This was never done, although the camp director and executive director of the agency that sponsors the camp claimed they spoke with Adam's parents.
Michael never returned to day camp. Adam stayed. The executive director told me he would report Michael's allegations to the Department of Human Services (DHS), State of Maine. Although I felt that an immediate internal investigation should have been conducted, the matter was out of my hands. The only other time I heard from the camp director was when she called to see if Michael was coming to their specialty kayak camp, for someone else wanted the space. They would refund our money if Michael was not coming. As it turns out, they also sent a pro rata refund of our entire tuition.
DHS forwarded the camp's report to the Division of Institutional Abuse, which sent the report on to the County District Attorney's office in which the camp is located. Understandably, the DA's office decided to do nothing. Amazingly, I later found out that the Department of Human Services has no authorization to investigate abuse occurring in summer camps, and with only six trained investigators for the entire state of Maine, they have neither the staff nor the mandate to investigate Michael's allegations.
Four months later, when a psychologist asked Michael how often he thought of this incident, Michael said, "Every day." Michael remains fearful that Adam will find him in a store aisle, outside, at school, at home, even though he knows that Adam has no idea where he lives.
Michael is obviously still suffering and will always carry the scars from this experience. I wonder and worry about the other boys. Did this abuse continue all summer? Is anyone helping them? And what about Adam . . . where did he learn this behavior? Has someone abused him? Is someone abusing him now? Shouldn't he be getting help?
As a parent, I feel guilty that I didn't act sooner. Looking back, there was only one red flag that even hinted that something was wrong. Michael had been coming home from camp still in his bathing trunks. I thought this was because he was too busy having fun to change. I later learned that he can put on and take off this bathing suit while wearing sweatpants. You try that!
And as a parent, I am also angry that a State department, whose mandate is to protect children, could and did not investigate my son's allegations.
Psychologists and social workers trained to conduct thorough and timely investigations whenever an alleged abuse occurs are needed, whether they come through the State or through another agency. If the Department of Human Services does not have the mandate or the staff, it could train non-department professionals to do this job, on an as-needed basis. Handling abuse between kids as solely a criminal matter misses a huge majority of the abusive situations that occur, and no one gets the help they need: neither the perpetrator nor the victims.
All camps are obligated to do everything they can to protect the children entrusted to their care. At a minimum, there must always be a counselor in the shower house or locker room when children are in there. Some kids are curious, others abusive. Staff must be present to monitor what goes on. Camp directors must communicate better with families if an incident does occur.
And as a camp director, do you know whether your State department has a legislative mandate to initiate a speedy investigation in case of alleged sexual abuse? If you are a "mandated reporter," what must you report? (In Maine, you must report prior-to-camp abuse at home.) Do you have a professional person on staff or on-call in case an investigation is necessary? How would you handle reported abusive behavior between campers? When would you send a camper home for the season? What would you communicate to all parents in the group of children involved, whose children may have been affected? If you know that a vast majority of all abusers have been abused themselves, how and what would you communicate to the parents of the perpetrator? Can you role-play the call to the parents of the victim?
I learned other lessons that I'd like to pass on to parents. First, and most important, choose your camp carefully. Second, you must care for your child. You can do that best. Third, should you feel something improper is occurring, insist on a proper thorough investigation by the responsible parties. A report to another agency is simply not sufficient or acceptable. Threaten immediate legal action and/or newspaper exposure, if it appears that your concerns are not being taken seriously. Don't assume someone else will do it. Fourth, keep talking to your child and get professional help. Unfortunately, these scars last a lifetime.
Reprinted with permission from the December 2002 issue of Communicate, the American Camping Association New England Section Newsletter.
Originally published in the 2003 Spring issue of The CampLine.


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Asus is making some of the best Android tablets on the market. In fact, the Taiwanese company currently offers three 10.1-inch-screen tablets within its premium Transformer line.
The best of the bunch is Asus' latest, the new flagship Transformer Pad Infinity TF700, which becomes available on July 16 and follows the Transformer Prime and the Transformer Pad, both of which arrived earlier this year.
All three tablets run Google's latest mobile operating system, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. All three also have the ability to "transform" into a laptop-style device by slipping the tablet into a keyboard dock, which is sold as an optional accessory.
The Transformer Pad Infinity introduces a new 1920 x 1200 resolution 10.1-inch Super IPS+ display.The obvious question is, "What's the difference between all these Transformers?" Aside from price (the Infinity is priced on the high end: $500 for 32GB of storage and $600 for 64GB), the biggest differences are found in the displays.
The two previous Asus tablets, the Transformer Pad (starting at $380) and Transformer Prime (also starting at $500, but likely due for a price cut) were built around screens with 1280 x 800 resolutions – the standard resolution found on the best tablets from Android rivals Acer, Samsung, and Toshiba in the 10.1-inch size.
The Transformer Pad Infinity introduces a new 1920 x 1200 resolution 10.1-inch Super IPS+ display, covered in Corning's new Gorilla Glass 2. It looks much better than its predecessors – it's not quite as noticeable of a resolution jump as what's found on Apple's third-generation iPad and its 2048 x 1536-pixel Retina display, but it's fairly close.
It's a really beautiful display, and one of the better screens I've seen on a tablet. Watching high-definition video on the Infinity is a joy, with deep blacks and warm colors. In fact, the display on the Infinity is so detailed and sharp that Asus' included wallpapers look just a tad soft upon close inspection. Many app icons haven't been optimized for screens this dense, so they look a bit blurry. While surfing the web, I noticed that text renders crisply and clearly with no discernible jaggedness or pixelization, but the accuracy of the display betrays the lower resolution of ads and images.
In this regard, higher-resolution devices such as the Infinity, the new iPad and the new MacBook Pro with Retina display are all a bit ahead of their time. Pushing the platform forward is a good thing, but it's apparent the Android world isn't fully prepared for a screen this sharp. Outside of a small number of games, super high-resolution apps are scarce, and tablet buyers who surf the marketplaces seeking quality apps that look appropriately amazing on this awesome screen will be left wanting.
As more devices with such detailed displays get produced, web publishers, content creators and app developers will have to catch up. And when they do, the consumers with the best displays will reap the benefits. Until then, the larger tablets are caught on the outside. There are a lot of apps available in Google Play, but big names such as Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and even Google+ still don't offer versions tailored to large Android tablets. Eager users are left with stretched-out phone versions.
Aside from the screen, the experience offered by the Infinity is pretty much exactly the same as what's found on the Transformer Prime and Transformer Pad. Like the two other Transformers, the Infinity uses Nvidia's powerful quad-core Tegra 3 processor and 1GB of RAM. The Tegra 3s found in the Transformer Pad and Prime were clocked at 1.4GHz, and the Infinity's Tegra 3 is clocked at 1.6GHz. But in launching apps, surfing the web, streaming video via Netflix and playing games such as Grand Theft Auto III and Angry Birds in Space, I noticed no huge performance boost here.
Previous Transformer tablets handled multitasking, high-definition video playback and HD gaming like a champ, and the Infinity doesn't disappoint. In all of my test situations, the Infinity handled these intensive tasks smoothly and without sluggishness or glitches. As with previous Transformers, the Infinity has a micro-HDMI port on the left side, making it easy to hook the tablet into an HDTV.
For each of its Transformer tablets, Asus sells a $150 "mobile dock," which turns turns the touchscreen slates into something like a laptop.On the back of the Infinity is an 8-megapixel camera paired with an LED flash. It shoots some of the best photos I've seen a tablet snap. Granted, this 8-megapixel camera won't produce photos as beautiful as the 8-megapixel cameras on Apple's iPhone 4S and HTC's One X smartphones, but progress is being made on the tablet camera front. Still unchanged, however, is the extreme awkwardness of taking a photo with a 10.1-inch tablet.
The front-facing camera on the Infinity is a 2-megapixel unit that isn't great at taking photos, but works just fine for video chats.
Another difference between the three Transformers is the materials used for the backing. The Pad uses plastic, and the Prime uses a beautiful brushed aluminum. The Infinity uses a combination of the two, with a brushed-aluminum back topped by an attractive and sturdy strip of high-quality plastic, which allows Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS signals to transmit more easily.
Asus doesn't make many alterations to Android Ice Cream Sandwich, which I like. It's a fine operating system and the fewer add-ons the better.
Of course, I can't properly review this device without also taking a look at its matching keyboard dock. For each of its Transformer tablets, Asus sells a $150 "mobile dock," which turns turns the touchscreen slates into something like a laptop. The dock, which tightly latches on to the Infinity, contains a keyboard, a trackpad, an extra USB port and an SD card reader.
The price is a bit steep, but typing on the keyboard is comfortable, and more convenient than using the on-screen keys for long emails and other work. The trackpad isn't great, but you can disable it and just tap and swipe the screen. A perk of the dock: added battery life. The Infinity itself gets about nine hours of battery life, but the dock adds an extra five to six hours.
I only really had two complaints in my time with the Infinity: the speaker placement, and a still-apparent lack of apps optimized for use on a tablet.
The lone speaker found on the Infinity is on the back-right of the device, and when I hold the slate in landscape mode, the audio gets muffled by my hands.
Even more frustrating is that issue I brought up earlier, and it's something that's largely outside of Asus' control: the lack of quality, full-sized tablet apps that make the most of this awesome screen. It's a persistent complaint for just about any Android tablet. It's time for this to change, and that responsibility rests with Google and app makers, not its hardware partners. This issue holds back the entire Android ecosystem, and prevents Google-powered tablets from being able to compete punch-for-punch with Apple's iPad.
WIRED Lots of speed and brawn. Beautiful display is one of the best on a tablet. Ice Cream Sandwich is a joy compared to previous versions of Android. Lightweight. Built with top-notch materials – feels durable, not cheap. Mobile dock adds a comfortable keyboard and a significant battery life boost.
TIRED The mobile dock is expensive at $150, and its trackpad isn't great. Poor speaker design. Android still doesn't have enough tablet-optimized apps.


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Here's a great gift idea for the movie nyerd in your life. Thomson is terrific fun to read even when you don't agree with him.
Here's a few other movie books of note…
"Lulu in Hollywood," By Louise Brooks:
"The Parade's Gone By," By Kevin Brownlow.
"The Pat Hobby Stories," By F. Scott Fitzgerald:
"Hitchcock," By Francois Truffaut:
"Chinatown and The Last Detail: Two Screenplays," By Robert Towne:


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(Corrects spelling of lawyer's name in paragraphs 9-10)
* New poll shows racial divide on case
* Defense tactic many irk many observers
* Stand Your Ground statute key to shooter's lawyer's
SANFORD, Fla., April 6 (Reuters) - "Shaken Baby Syndrome" was cited on Friday in the defense of George Zimmerman, the Sanford, Florida, man who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in a case that has sparked a widespread public outcry.
Hal Uhrig, a lawyer and former Gainesville, Florida, police officer who recently joined Zimmerman's defense team, cited in a TV interview the brain damage that can seriously injure or kill an infant.
His point, which has been made before, was that Zimmerman contends he shot Martin in self defense and feared for his life after the 17-year-old attacked him and began pounding his head into the concrete pavement of a gated community on a rainy evening in Sanford on Feb. 26.
But Uhrig's choice of words, and use of a recognized sign of child abuse to defend a 28-year-old man who killed a kid, seemed likely to raise more than just a few eyebrows.
"We're familiar with the Shaken Baby Syndrome," said Uhrig on the CBS This Morning program. "You shake a baby, the brain shakes around inside the skull. You can die when someone's pounding your head into the ground."
Apart from saying his client suffered a broken nose, Uhrig did not elaborate on the extent of any injuries Zimmerman actually suffered. But characteristic injuries associated with SBS, as Shaken Baby Syndrome is known, include bleeding in the brain. There are often no visible external signs such injuries have occurred.
Police have not arrested Zimmerman because the use of lethal force in self defense is permitted under the Stand Your Ground law approved by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush in 2005.
The lack of an arrest in the Martin case has triggered protests across the United States. A special prosecutor appointed by Governor Rick Scott is investigating to decide whether charges are warranted, amid allegations of racial profiling and initial police bungling of the case.
If it goes to trial, Uhrig said he and his fellow defense attorney, would defend Zimmerman under the Stand Your Ground statute.
"He didn't commit any crime," Uhrig said on CBS. "He was attacked, broke his nose, hit his head into the ground and he defended himself. That's not against the law."
A USA Today/Gallup poll published on Saturday showed that Americans are deeply divided across color lines in their opinions about Martin's killing.
Seventy-three percent of blacks in the survey said they believed Zimmerman, a white Hispanic, would have been arrested if the person he shot dead was white.
Only 33 percent of whites agreed with that view while the majority of whites polled, 52 percent, said race made no difference in the case.
(Reporting By Tom Brown; Editing by Philip Barbara)


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I am trying to obtain something from an array and when I compile it tells me "cannot find symbol. "
public int numberOfAccesses() { int total = 0; int index = 0; hourCounts.getInt(hourCounts, 24); ....... hourCounts = new int[24]; //this is how it is declared in the instance field.
I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, any help would greatly appreciated, thanks.