Ali Ettefagh at PostGlobal

Ali Ettefagh

Tehran, Iran

Dr. Ali Ettefagh serves as a director of Highmore Global Corporation, an investment company in emerging markets of Eastern Europe, CIS, and the Middle East. He is the co-author of several books on trade conflict, resolution of international trade disputes, conflicts in letters of credit, trade-related banking transactions, sovereign debt, arbitration and dispute resolutions and publications specific to the oil and gas, communication, aviation and finance sectors. Dr. Ettefagh is a member of the executive committee and the board of directors of The Development Foundation, an advisor to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and an advisor to a number of European companies. Dr. Ettefagh speaks Persian (Farsi), English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Turkish. Close.

Ali Ettefagh

Tehran, Iran

Dr. Ali Ettefagh serves as a director of Highmore Global Corporation, an investment company in emerging markets of Eastern Europe, CIS, and the Middle East. more »

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Just a Way to Sell Gizmos to Politicians

Of course the tradecraft of shady operations has to evolve over time. To the extent that such a law is implemented properly, the cost-benefit ratio might merit some approval of these surveillance powers. But it's hard to envision the sifting through of ones and zeros being implemented properly, guarding against the temptations of political manipulation.

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All Comments (21)

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The Dude:

Good stuff, and I say this from one dude to another!

So, some analyst sitting in DC or in some "safe" comfortable area reads that terrorist X is writing an email from an internet cafe in some seedy neighbourhood of Karachi to Bad Guy Y in, say, Baghdad, who will also read the email in an internet cafe ...or on his mobile, wireless handheld device. And let us further assume that both are stupid enough to forget about codes or encryption or other shady stuff. Now...what is that analyst going to back from his comfortable chair in DC or whereever...., given that both of those "communicators" are very mobile and slippery? We are talking about analysts that had no clue about the difference between Sunni and Shiites and simply thought both were Muslims and will receive American soldiers as liberators of Iraq.......

Give me a break please! Chances are that the net result will only be more junk emails and more discount Viagra ads, in my email box as well as T-X in Karachi and B.G.-Y in Baghdad!!!!!

Betty Boop!:

Good analysis. Especially when languages in non-latin script (Russian, Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Chinese, Japanese.......) are transliterated into latin alphabet or mixed with English or other languages.

Meydoone Shush:

Looks like Ben Graham above has lost his nerve, not not mention the battle and the war!

The writer from the Islamic Republic of Iran has in fact gotten it right: USA and all of its mighty systems and giant budgets could not infiltrate Al Qaeda or Saddam's government and it has been chasing shadows for the last 6+ years.....LIVE WITH IT!

Parham:

Sounds like USA is transforming into one of those Arab dictatorships, Syria or Egypt or Jordan, where there is an absurd law proposed by the government and then rubberstamped by the Parliament.

Ben Graham:

I agree. The poster from the Islamic Republic of Iran has it right. All communications between the Islamic Ruling Council, in Teheran, to HezB'Allah headquarters, in South Beirut, should travel unfettered even if the switch is located in New York. It is only gizmos for politicos to want to tap that switch.

Anonymous:

A clear and realistic view.

Cantankerous Jasper:

Previous 10 Posters: Gents, really. You understood enough of this to agree to it? Not unless there were ten consecutive miracles.

Cantankerous Jasper:

Ali! Man, what you talking about?

Chip:

Fantastic essay, and I couldn't agree with it more. Thank you.

Farshid:

Well said. One size does not fit all, in fact Americans are one of the least exposed bunch to foreign cultures. Even if they set up surveillance of communication in foreign countries, they tend to hire 2nd league or incompetent people that are not in touch with their home country, but have sleek appearances to impress some local officer.
The best way to dry the roots of terror is to first understand the thinking pattern of the people that promote it. That must be in person and not by monitoring what they say.

Gunther S:

Surveillance was carried out with ruthless inefficiency and unpleasant results in 1932-45 German, Russia, China. Many people suffered, most for poor cause. Considering the Homeland Security, CIA and FBI's record what they have done with information and how intelligently they have applied it, we don't need to worry too much.
We can be sure that what the NSA finds may or may not be useful, since the communication between agencies is still inefficient.
What will make the headlines are the misuse and erroneous applications of this capability. The airline watch lists are a fine example of ineptitude targeting normal citizens.
What self-respecting "terrorist" with an ounce of intelligence would use a suspect name instead of an anglicized version with fake papers. - In a nation that cannot verify SS numbers as quickly as a valid credit card at a gas pump, and which cannot account for 12 million people in the country, we know that incompetence and unwillingness to enforce selected laws reigns in the executive department.

Anonymous:

Can this law be applied against crug dealers and drug barrons?
Are drub dealers and big producers of narcotics are not as big of a threat to national and social security of our nation?

DarvazeGhar:

The American president himself cannot speak proper English and he is known to create new words and methods of expression. Will the computers flag him as an "unusual" conversation? Or simply press delete? I prefer the Escape button, but I am still wondering how to escape from this madman.....

And more seriously, this law simply shows that American politicians (from those who propose the law to those that ratify it....Dumb and Dumber) are completely out of touch with the rest of the world. They simply think that the rest of the world operates like America.

12345:

Agreed!
One more thing: Let the Administration show us what they have done and what is their results, 6 years after 9-11 and the national emergency. That will tell us if they have come up with any thing, and or their methods are correct.

Just look at their rounding up of people in Guantanamo, and not a single hit or success in catching a big fish. That is not a good report card against which a carte blanche should be handed out.

california condor:

It is a fairly solid assumption that Bush and his cabal are adamant against court supervision of their vast eavesdropping operations only because they are directed, first and foremost, against their American domestic political opponents and critics. Why else would they shrink away in horror from accountability, supervision, responsibility or oversight, and hide in secrecy? Two instances have already come to light: tapping into confidential party e-mails of Senate Democrats and Bolton's use of intercepts to monitor U.S. Department of State officials and diplomats with whom he disagreed on policy. It is only a matter of time before truth will out. Unfortunately, that day has been postponed, as the Democratic majority in Congress has just inexplicably handed over greatly expanded eavesdropping rights to our crooked, lying excuse for an Attorney General while he skates on the verge of impeachment. Congress has just abrogated the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is a disgraceful and unacceptable way. America was once the light of the democratic Western world; now we are simply a bad joke.

Michael:

I wano know how you learnt all those languages. That is so impressive.

Anonymous:

Agree. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack that is the size of the United states.

Hubert Schulz:

I could not agree more with this article. This program is yet another smokescreen to veil the outrageous incompetence of this government. Even if Urdu was understood, what about all those tribal dialects or any other code language people could make up.

Also, what an arrogant infringement on people's privacy in any other country, whose phone calls or emails, unknowingly to them, are being routed through the US?

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