IntelliBriefs

🔴 For Akram Jan Baloch it is not possible to detach himself from the political realities of his surroundings. On CPEC and Balochistan   “They have usurped the resources of our region and displayed large billboards to celebrate CPEC in Islamabad. They are actually afraid of us. If a torn jeans is less unsettling than a tribesman’s moustaches or his pagri than we don’t have to worry. We have nothing to fear from the people who don’t take pride in their own identity. Once Musharraf was visiting France and the French President asked him about updates on the archaeological discoveries of Mehrgarh. President Musharraf had no clue what Mehrgarh was and turned to his military secretary who of course also didn’t have a clue. The French President ended up tutoring Musharraf on the significance of Mehrgarh. Situations like these are very unfortunate.”

Financial Times Both unionists and separatists see advantage in postponing a new Scottish independence vote, but delay cannot be infinite © Ellie Foreman-Peck       October 13, 2021 1:10 pm   by  Robert Shrimsley Nicola Sturgeon has a problem. In the battle for independence, her Scottish National Party may own the narrative but it is not in control of its destiny. Scotland’s first minister admitted as much in  her interview  with the Financial Times, saying she could not “look ahead and tell you exactly how this constitutional impasse is going to resolve itself”. Pro-independence parties won a majority at this year’s Scottish elections but only the UK government has the right to grant a new referendum — and Boris Johnson does not want to go down in history as the man who lost the Union. He argues it is only seven years since the last vote. Sturgeon can pile on political pressure. But she cannot force the prime minister to agree with her. Scotland’s leader has ruled out an illegal vote,

Nicolas Chaillan speaks of ‘good reason to be angry’ as Beijing heads for ‘global dominance’ Nicolas Chaillan: US cyber defences in some government departments are at ‘kindergarten level’ © Monica King       October 10, 2021 10:53 am   by  Katrina Manson  in Washington The Pentagon’s first chief software officer said he resigned in protest at the slow pace of technological transformation in the US military, and because he could not stand to watch China overtake America. In his first interview since leaving the post at the Department of Defense a week ago, Nicolas Chaillan told the Financial Times that the failure of the US to respond to Chinese cyber and other threats was putting his children’s future at risk. “We have no competing fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years. Right now, it’s already a done deal; it is already over in my opinion,” he said, adding there was “good reason to be angry”. Chaillan, 37, who spent three years on a Pentagon-wide effort to boost cyber securit

Reporters would rather tweet about the weather than investigate repression and torture by the regime. By   Hossein Ronaghi Oct. 12, 2021 6:27 pm ET Demonstrators during the Green Movement protests in Tehran, 2009. PHOTO: MOHAMAD ESLAMI RAD/GAMMA-RAPHO VIA GETTY IMAGES Tehran I am a blogger and Internet freedom activist in Iran, and I have a message that millions of Iranians are desperate for you to hear: The Western media is failing the Iranian people. There have been five nationwide uprisings against the regime in our country in the past four years. Our government has slaughtered protesters and tortured political prisoners to suppress them. Yet most people in the West—even those who consider themselves informed on Iran—don’t know our reality because foreign media coverage consistently overlooks or denies our reality. For us, it is as if there are two Irans—the one where we live and another that you read about. Your Iran is defined by a pesky nuclear negotiation. Ours is much worse. It

What is Perception Management and Why it is So Important for Corporates We often hear the term, perceptions matter more than reality bandied about in the media and in organizational behaviour textbooks. In addition,  we also come across how marketers and branding experts often indulge in perception management wherein they create a positive climate for their products to be sold in the market. Moreover, we also read how equity markets and share traders often base their buy and sell orders on perceptions of publicly held companies. So, what is perception management and why is it so important for organizations. First, perception is how we think about a particular person, situation, event, or anything for that matter based on the stimuli we receive and the feelings and thoughts that we have about that entity. Mind you, the entity in question might or might not be what we perceive them to be and this is where perception management is important as irrespective of reality, we either perceive t

Nicola Sturgeon Sturgeon confident that impasse over another referendum will be resolved in her favour       October 7, 2021 3:00 am   by  Roula Khalaf  ,  Robert Shrimsley  and  Mure Dickie  in Edinburgh Nicola Sturgeon has warned Boris Johnson’s UK government it would be “unthinkable” to indefinitely deny Scots another say on their constitutional future and that the longer London seeks to delay a second referendum on the issue, the more likely independence will become. In an interview with the Financial Times, Scotland’s first minister pointed to strong support for independence among younger Scots as showing time was on her side. “I can’t look ahead and tell you exactly how this constitutional impasse is going to resolve itself, but it will resolve itself — and it will resolve itself on the side of democracy, because actually, the alternative is pretty unthinkable,” said Sturgeon, leader of the pro-independence Scottish National party. “I’ve got democracy on my side . . . if they thi