text:
Extension and Engagement
Category Archives: Our People
People Profile: Tracy Crews
Posted on July 31, 2017 by murphya2	| Leave a reply
People Profiles give us an opportunity to get to know our colleagues a little better. Say hello to Tracy Crews, Oregon Sea Grant marine education manager.
Tracy Crews on the Oregon beach near Yachats.
What is your connection to Sea Grant Extension? I oversee the youth and family programs, as well as professional development educator at Hatfield Marine Science Center, connecting participants to coastal and marine research. I also coordinate programming for the Oregon Coast STEM Hub, which serves coastal communities from Astoria to Brookings.
How long have you been doing outreach and engagement work? I started out my career as a graduate research assistant for Virginia Sea Grant's Marine Advisory Program working on fisheries-related issues and have been engaged in some form of outreach and education ever since.
What's the best job you've ever had? My current position. Over the nine years I have held this position, I have worked with a wonderful group of employees and partners and have been able to grow the program in exciting new ways to meet the changing needs of our stakeholders. Developing the statewide underwater robotics competition is just one example.
What's the best part of your current job? Empowering people and seeing them develop new skills, whether it is my staff, educators, or students. Witnessing the excitement and pride of others as they accomplish new things is extremely gratifying.
Where did you grow up? A little town called Jollyville, Texas, in the hill country surrounding Austin. It has since been developed and incorporated and is now officially part of Austin.
Willow, the Golden Retriever, and Misty, the cat.
Do you have any pets? A golden retriever named Willow and a cat named Misty.
Do you have any hobbies? Living in Yachats, I love to spend time at the beach and gardening, and I am an avid crafter.
Where is the last best place you went on vacation? At the end of every summer, my son and I travel to a different place in the world. Last summer it was Fiji. This summer, we are headed to the Big Island of Hawaii.
On horseback in Fiji.
If you could meet anyone in history, who would it be? As a kid growing up in land-locked Texas watching Jacques Cousteau, I really would have loved to have a chance to meet him in person as he set me on the path that has led me to where I am today.
What was your favorite subject in school? Biology (no surprise there!).
Posted in Extension, Our People, Sea Grant.
People Profile: Charles Robinson
Posted on June 28, 2017 by murphya2	| Leave a reply
We are re-introducing profiles of University Outreach and Engagement faculty and staff as an opportunity to get to know our colleagues a little better. Say hello to Charles Robinson, special initiatives, University Outreach and Engagement and the College of Liberal Arts.
How long have you worked with University Outreach and Engagement? Since 2014.
What's the best part of the work you're doing? Interacting and collaborating with colleagues and communities all across our state—and producing real and valuable results on their behalf.
Created at the OSU Makers Fair: Charles Robinson's portrait burned on wood.
What work accomplishment are you most proud of? I can look back on many things and feel proud for what I've been able to contribute. But the single most important one to me has been the creation and growth of The CO•, the group behind The Corvallis Maker Fair and a number of related events that focus on building community and resources around hands-on learning. The CO• began as a grassroots partnership between a few units on campus, including the College of Liberal Arts, the Division of University Outreach and Engagement, and the Valley Library. It now includes many OSU and community groups and focuses on offering a 2-day series of maker activities on campus each spring and is moving into new areas of research and statewide partnership.
How should success be measured? Good stories!
If you could learn the answer to one question about your future, what would the question be? What's next?
What smell brings back good memories? Coffee. Always.
What is your favorite season? Autumn.
If you could call up anyone in the world and have a one-hour conversation, who would you call? My grandfathers. I never met either of them, but as I grow nearer them in age, I think I just might be able now to truly understand some of the things they would have to say.
What song always puts you in a good mood? Institutionalized by the punk band, Suicidal Tendencies.
Do you engage in social media? If yes, what's your favorite social media platform (for work and/or play)? Reluctantly and awkwardly. For work – Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (#osuspark #TheCOCorvallis). For play (and proud parent moments) – Facebook.
What are the three best apps on your phone? Dropbox, Evernote and Google Photos.
Have you traveled to any different countries? Not nearly enough! Which ones? Not nearly enough! Mexico, Canada, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, and Denmark.
Where is the most awe inspiring place you have been? An ATM machine on the outskirts of Salem. Yes, I'm being cryptic – sorry, this one's just for me – but you asked!
Posted in Our People.
People Profile: Amanda Gladics
We are profiling faculty and staff involved the outreach and engagement work featured on the University Outreach and Engagement blog. Please say hello to Amanda Gladics, Coastal Fisheries Extension Faculty, Oregon Sea Grant and Extension Service – Clatsop County, Coast Region.
Amanda Gladics, Oregon Sea Grant's Extension fisheries management specialist in Astoria, Oregon.
How long have you worked with OSU Extension Service? I started with OSU Extension Service last July, but I have been working or studying at OSU in some capacity since 2007.
What's the best part of the work you're doing? Getting to work with such a variety of people and feeling really connected to my community.
What work accomplishment are you most proud of? My recent research into albatross bycatch reduction in longline fisheries on the West Coast was incorporated into guidance that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provided to NOAA Fisheries and will be incorporated into fisheries management policy. It was really satisfying to see research that was driven by fishermen's questions result in common sense policy that will work better for fishermen and save seabirds.
What area of research is of particular interest to you? My research background is in marine ecology and fisheries bycatch reduction, and I'm still interested in food web ecology and fisheries management research. I'm finding myself more and more interested in social sciences as we face the challenge of managing coupled human-ecological systems like fisheries.
Would you rather be completely invisible for one day or be able to fly for one day? Having spent the last 9 years working with birds in some capacity, I would definitely rather fly for a day.
What is something uplifting happening in the world right now? I think there are so many uplifting things happening in the world – especially if we focus our attention locally. Here in Astoria, we just had our second Pride parade along the Riverwalk a few weeks ago. I got to march with the North Coast Food Web and it was really inspiring to see a small, coastal community like Astoria embrace love in all its forms.
What food do you know you shouldn't eat but can't help yourself? Fancy COFFEE!!!! Good coffee is irresistible.
What is your favorite holiday? Spring Equinox – I love Oregon's spring, and the equinox always is about the time where I really notice the days getting brighter.
Do you prefer summer or winter activities? Summer. I like to run, and it's less fun to run in the rain and dark.
What is a fashion trend you are really glad went away? Oversized skater pants.
Do you engage in social media? If yes, what's your favorite social media platform (for work and/or play)? I'm on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, but I'm the most active on Twitter @agladics. I generally just lurk and like on Facebook. I use Instagram for posting pictures of food, travel, and chickens.
Do you have any pets? How long have you and your pet(s) known each other? I have three chickens: Ophelia, Sprite and Butterbean. We've had Ophelia (a drama queen and alpha hen) for four years, and Sprite and Butterbean since February 2016.
People Profile: Lynn E. Long
People doing the work of outreach and engagement are interesting people. Today, let's introduce Lynn E. Long, Oregon State University professor and OSU Extension Service horticulturist, from Wasco County in the Mid-Columbia Region.
Lynn E. Long, Oregon State University professor and OSU Extension horticulturist with his 2017 Abarth 124 Spider.
How long have you worked in Extension? 28 years
What's the best part of the work you're doing? I've always loved to work with the Master Gardeners. They are a great group of people!
What work accomplishment are you most proud of? My international work. I have been invited to speak to cherry growers and/or scientists in 18 countries around the world and was asked to deliver two keynote addresses to my peers at ISHS International Cherry Symposia.
What's your favorite way to waste time? Watching British mystery shows on TV.
Sibling Italian greyhounds Sienna (left) and Scirroco.
Do you have any pets? How long have you and your pet(s) known each other? My wife and I have two Italian greyhounds. These are very fast little dogs (don't try to beat them to the couch). They are siblings. Sienna weighs 8 lbs. (she rules the house) and her brother, Scirroco, weighs 15 lbs.
What do you do to get rid of stress? My wife and I love to garden. I find it relaxing and we love to enjoy the results of our efforts as young plants grow and bloom. I also enjoy long drives, especially on historical or winding roads. I have several interesting cars that are fun to drive, including at 1979 classic Mini, a 2008 Mini Cooper, and a 2017 Abarth 124 Spider.
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? The political climate in this country and around the world. People need to begin to truly listen to each other, rather than judge them.
Where is the most beautiful place you've ever been? Most places where cherries are grown around the world are very beautiful, including The Dalles. However, probably the most beautiful place were the fiords of Norway where cherries are grown within 500 meters of the deep-water fiords, yet glacial mountains rise just above them.
Do you engage in social media? If yes, what's your favorite social media platform (for work and/or play)? I'm only into Facebook, and that is mostly to stay in touch with my children and grandchildren who live in Germany, Kyrgyzstan and soon, Scotland.
What book genres do you like to read? Historical. I am currently reading The Candy Bombers, about the Berlin airlift. Prior to that, I read The Immortal Irishman, a biography about Thomas Meagher. Both are good reads.
Posted in Extension, Our People.
People Profile: Michelle Sager
We're trying something new(ish) on the O&E blog. We are introducing University Outreach and Engagement faculty and staff. So … please say hello to Michelle Sager, Master Gardener education program assistant for Wasco County in the Mid-Columbia Region.
Michelle Sager, Oregon State Extension Master Gardener education program assistant
How long have you worked in Extension? Two years
What's the best part of the work you're doing? Engaging with people in the community.
What work accomplishment are you most proud of? I think it's the volunteers that accomplish the most around here!
What's your favorite way to waste time? Drawing, singing and juggling come in at a tie.
Michelle Sager's canine companion Miss Pepita Pickle: The Lady Sargent Pepperbean Waddleplop Silk Cheek of Pipsqeakery. Pickles for short. Pickles was born in Guatemala.
Do you have any pets? How long have you and your pet(s) known each other? Yes! I met my dog Pickle when I lived in Guatemala three years ago when she was a tiny, scruffy, baby street dog. There was no way I was leaving without her. Her full name, though, is Miss Pepita Pickle: The Lady Sargent Pepperbean Waddleplop Silk Cheek of Pipsqeakery.
What do you do to get rid of stress? I love to hike and be in the woods. I am also an avid yoga and meditation practitioner, and I think that's really the most important piece. Singing and dancing also help!
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? The assumption that there is one, best way to see and understand the world.
What three words best describe you? Silly is the only one that come to mind! I try to be joyful, perhaps.
What's the most useful thing you own? I've got some hand-made garden tools I'm pretty in love with.
Where is the most beautiful place you've ever been? I think Cerro Fitz Roy in Patagonia. But it's pretty beautiful right here where we live in the Columbia Gorge!
Do you engage in social media? If yes, what's your favorite social media platform (for work and/or play)? Do farmers' markets count? 😉
Know any good jokes? Why do potatoes make such good detectives? Because they keep their eyes peeled!
What book genres to you like to read? I love reading books that help bring light to under-represented perspectives, especially things like Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
GTA Cole Crawford breaks new ground
Based on excerpts written by Cole Crawford and edited by Ann Marie Murphy
Cole Crawford, University Outreach and Engagement's first GTA
Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) Cole Crawford broke new ground and accomplished plenty during his academic year tenure with University Outreach and Engagement under the supervision of Charles Robinson, special initiatives, University Outreach and Engagement and the College of Liberal Arts. He is the first GTA to work with University Outreach and Engagement.
"Charles Robinson tailored GTA responsibilities to take advantage of my existing digital skills while also providing me exposure to event management and public relations work," Crawford revealed. "Because of the position's flexibility and variable work requirements, I was even able to co-teach a digital humanities course in my home department (English, in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film) during winter term, which complemented my University Outreach and Engagement publicly engaged work."
Crawford worked on two major projects: the Corvallis Maker Fair and Listen Up! Oregon Object Stories.
Oregon State University 2017 Maker Fair
The Corvallis Maker Fair, produced by "The CO•" and now in its fourth year, is an event dedicated to bringing together makers from across campus, Corvallis, and Oregon to celebrate and share their methods for hands-on learning, while exploring and researching the way people learn in these environments. Activities ranged from virtual reality to robotics to origami. University Outreach and Engagement is one of several co-sponsors of the event.
Crawford served as the website and social media coordinator on "The CO•" leadership team, including collaborating with a team of FLUX design students to refresh "The CO•" logo and promotional materials. Recruiting exhibitors, working with the "SEA Through the Eyes on an Artist" partner event put on by the College of Education, gathering exhibitor and attendee feedback, and helping set up and run the actual event were also his responsibility. The event attracted over 60 exhibitors and an estimated 1,900 attendees over two days. See more photos from the event here.
Victor Villegas demonstrates drone technology at the 2017 Maker Fair at Oregon State University
"Being able to jump into planning such a major event was exciting," Crawford said. "Especially because I strongly believe in makerspaces, publicly engaged research, and an ethos of tinkering and exploration. I loved seeing attendees ranging from children to grandparents interact with exhibitors, learn about the science that facilitates maker activities, and build and play with micro-projects."
Crawford worked with Robinson and Liddy Detar, Ph.D., an instructor in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS), College of Liberal Arts, on Listen Up! Oregon Object Stories. Listen Up! is an accessible, creative, and intellectually engaged digital space which invites Oregonians to digitally represent personal objects through images, descriptions, or 3D scans; imbue those objects with meaning through story-telling in the form of text, video, or audio; and share their object stories across Oregon, starting with Oregon State University and its Extension network.
Listen Up! users can contribute object stories, respond to public events created by other users, and build collections of content which address specific topics or prompts. The project is inherently interdisciplinary and draws on digital humanities building practices, engaged teaching, and community partnerships to create public scholarship. Listen Up! is flexible, and can scale to accommodate individual contributions, classroom collections, and statewide events.
Originally deployed as a teaching exercise by Detar in her WGSS courses, Listen Up!, she transformed the classroom activity into a hybrid online project to collect a broader range of object stories. Users can contribute stories directly through the website, or work with the Listen Up! team at events.
Crawford created the project's data model, which assures user privacy and agency; developed several iterations of the Listen Up! website; helped write a Learning Innovation Grant proposal and a successful submission to the 2017 Engagement Scholarship Consortium Conference; planned and ran three in-person object story events at "The CO•," the Valley Library's Crafternoon event series, and Moreland Hall; and collected, transcribed, and edited forty multimodal object stories from these events.
Object story contributors have spoken on the metaphorical meaning of a sandlewood watch, the importance of hybridity through an implanted defibrillator, and the power of comfort objects to help overcome developmental disabilities. Crawford will present Listen Up! at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute Colloquium in June 2017.
"I highly recommend that graduate students take advantage of alternative GTA positions," Crawford said. "Assistantships focused on research and teaching are the most common ways for students to support themselves during full-time graduate study, but for students like myself who are interested in alt-academic careers or roles outside higher education entirely, positions that incorporate service and administration work can be even more valuable. Finding the right GTA position can help students tailor their graduate education to their interests while honing numerous marketable skills and making a noticeable impact at OSU."
Crawford is currently searching for a full-time position in digital humanities research support and program coordination, and his experience with the Division of Outreach and Engagement and College of Liberal Arts has prepared him well for the application and interview process.
Read Crawford's MA thesis titled "Respect the Gap: From Big to Boutique Data through Laboring-Class Poets Online" here: ColeCrawford_RespectTheGap_DefenseCopy
Charles Robinson sports OSU eclipse viewing glasses at the 2017 Maker Fair
"Cole's thesis fits solidly in the tradition of digital humanities scholarship, but takes bold steps forward in exploring how narrative, history, and meaning are built within the relational networks of data sets (British labor poetry in this case), and how these networks can be better understood via approaches that blend rigorous data-mining with historical and literary nuance," stated Robinson. "His use of the idea of 'boutique' data sets is a helpful way to stake the claim for the value of smaller and incomplete historical/literary data sets vs. the 'big data' notion so prevalent in discussion of data analysis/visualization/etc."
Posted in Community Outreach, Our People.
Creating a Diversity Champion team
Posted on June 5, 2017 by murphya2	| Leave a reply
Written by Ana Lu Fonseca, assistant director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Division of University Outreach and Engagement
Ana Lu Fonseca, assistant director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Division of University Outreach and Engagement, Oregon State University. Photo: Stephen Ward, Extension and Experiment Station Communications.
What is a Diversity Champion? The word "champions" comes from the Latin concept of "campionem" for "gladiator, fighter." Raaawr! But there's no need to grab your sword. A champion is also a person who fights for a cause or defends an ideal.
In our outreach and engagement work, Diversity Champions are people who use their superpowers in the name of a diversity value or ideal. That ideal could be a better world, a more inclusive or relevant program, or a greener and more loving future for generations to come. We recognize Champions who strive every day to learn, grow, and create a better future—not just those who have already succeeded at something or are an expert.
We are creating a team of Outreach and Engagement Diversity Champions!
Today's world is a world of many ideas, thoughts, perspectives, backgrounds, experiences, philosophies, and beliefs. It is a world of individuals with multiple identities. Let's embrace the opportunity to enrich our selves, our lives, and our work with this diversity.
As Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for University Outreach and Engagement, my vision is to create a loving, united, authentic, inclusive and powerful team with a common vision and commitment to a sustainable transformation.
To realize this vision, we must gather and invest resources to ensure we are thinking intentionally about inclusion at all levels and that people from all walks of life—who have the potential and ability to transform the world through their talents, ideas, and voices—are not just heard but embraced. As a land grant institution, we have the power to impact and learn from every person who we come in contact with.
The Outreach and Engagement Diversity Champions team will be pioneers in this transformation. They will work with me to support our Division to enhance the tools and strategies we will need to work and learn in a diverse and complex world. Our Champions will also be involved in the communities they serve and be part of a larger transformation toward a more understanding, compassionate, and open society. This will be accomplished through planning, developing, coordinating, supporting, and participating.
We will create the work together!
If you want to "strive" and be a pioneer for a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive Division of University Outreach and Engagement, please join our Diversity Champions team. Follow this link to a brief survey and let me know more about yourself. All are welcome. This team is not a "committee" with a limit to how many people can participate.
Contact me if you have questions, and stay tuned for more!
Posted in Culture, Equity and Inclusion, O&E Leadership, Our People.
Business leaders tour forests and watershed
Posted on November 17, 2016 by murphya2	| Leave a reply
Written by Kevin Leahy for The Daily Astorian, published on November 16, 2016.
[Editor's note: The outreach and engagement work of OSU Extension Service takes many forms. In this case it's taking part in a Clatsop County tour showcasing stream restoration and forest best practices for the 26th annual Clatsop Forestry Economic Development Committee leaders tour. This article appeared in The Daily Astorian and features the efforts of Valerie Grant, a new OSU Extension forestry and natural resources faculty.]
Valerie Grant, new Oregon State University Extension forestry and natural resources faculty shares her story as a fourth generation person connected to forestry work. Photo: George Vetter for The Daily Astorian.
More than 100 attendees braved the elements for the 26th annual Clatsop Forestry Economic Development Committee leaders tour this year, including state Rep. Deborah Boone.
The day started out bright and early with an introduction by committee Chairman Kevin Leahy at the Barbey Maritime Center, reinforcing that this sector continues to be 30 percent of our Clatsop County economy, and is 12 percent of our county employment. Leahy also noted that $23,500,000 was distributed from Oregon Department of Forestry to Clatsop County in 2016 from timber harvests that support schools, law enforcement, Clatsop Community College, roads, and more.
Forestry tour participants look through a fish habitat and stream enhancement project. Photo: George Vetter for The Daily Astorian
From there the group was transported by bus to the Walooski Fish Stream Enhancement Collaborative Project, where Tom Clark from Lewis & Clark Timber/Greenwood Resources, Brook Stanley from the North Coast Watershed Association, Troy Laws from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Jeff Van Osdol from Big River Construction shared the public/private partnership success that included a fish habitat and stream enhancement project, and invited all the attendees to walk down the stairs and across the wood bridge specifically built for the Leaders Tour for an "up close and personal" walk through the culvert where salmon are swimming through for the first time.
Next, the two full school buses headed to the Clatsop Ridge Logging Operation & Reforestation to hear about the "active harvest operation" project from speakers Mark Gustafson, owner of Gustafson Logging, and Sam Sadler of Lewis & Clark Timber and Greenwood Resources.
A box lunch was paid for by the employer members of the Clatsop Forestry Economic Development Committee and was provided to all attendees. Presentations were given at the Netul Landing, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. Interim park Superintendent Marcus Koenen and rogram specialist Carla Cole presented project updates on the park properties on both sides of the Columbia River.
Forestry committee member Valerie Grant, Oregon State University Extension's new forester, shared her background and priorities within the three-county area that she covers [emphasis added].
State Rep. Deborah Boone, center, and others view a demonstration of logging techniques and best practices. Photo: George Vetter for The Daily Astorian
Participants were asked to share reflections on this tour and past ones. It was mentioned that the forestry tour was under way Sept. 11, 2001, and the lifelong memory of where you were when 9/11 happened will always be with them.
And Sara Meyer, a longtime tour participant and member of the local American Association of University Women chapter choked up when she said it was so exciting to see so many women in this traditionally male-dominated field.
Column author Kevin Leahy is the executive director of Clatsop Economic Development Resources.
Posted in Community Outreach, Extension, Our People.
New technologies – and a dash of whale poop – help scientists monitor whale health
Posted on October 5, 2016 by murphya2	| Leave a reply
By Mark Floyd, News and Research Communications, Oregon State University
Editor's Note: A lot of fascinating work is being done by Extension faculty. This is one story that might surprise you. Be sure to watch the mesmerizing video! Leigh Torres, Oregon SeaGrant Extension, specializes in the spatial and behavioral ecology of marine megafauna including marine mammals, seabirds and sharks. The following was distributed to news media on October 4, 2016.
Leigh Torres, Oregon SeaGrant Extension, whale watching. Photo courtesy of OSU.
A lot of people think what Leigh Torres has done this summer and fall would qualify her for a spot on one of those "World's Worst Jobs" lists.
After all, the Oregon State University marine ecologist follows gray whales from a small inflatable boat in the rugged Pacific Ocean and waits for them to, well, poop. Then she and her colleagues have about 20-30 seconds to swoop in behind the animal with a fine mesh net and scoop up some of the prized material before it drifts to the ocean floor.
Mind you, gray whales can reach a length of more than 40 feet and weigh more than 30 tons, making the retrieval of their daily constitutional somewhat daunting. Yet Torres, a principal investigator in the university's Marine Mammal Institute, insists that it really isn't that bad.
"We're just looking for a few grams of material and to be honest, it doesn't even smell that bad," she said. "Now, collecting a DNA sample from a whale's blow-hole – that's a bad job. Their breath is horrendous."
Being a marine pooper-scooper isn't some strange fetish for the Oregon State research team. They are conducting a pilot project to determine how gray whales respond to ocean noise – both natural and human – and whether these noises cause physiological stress in the animals. Technology is changing the way the researchers are approaching their study.
"New advances in biotechnology allow us to use the fecal samples to look at a range of things that provide clues to the overall health and stress of the whales," Torres said. "We can look at their hormone levels and genetically identify individual whales, their sex and whether they are pregnant. And we can analyze their prey and document what they've been eating.
Whale fluke. Photo courtesy of OSU.
"Previously, we would have to do a biopsy to learn some of these things and though they can be done safely, you typically don't repeat the procedure often because it's invasive," she added. "Here, we can follow individual whales over a four-month feeding season and pick up multiple samples that can tell us changes in their health."
The study is a pilot project funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Acoustics Program to determine the impacts of noise on whale behavior and health. Torres, who works out of OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon, focuses on gray whales because they are plentiful and close to shore.
"Many marine mammals are guided by acoustics and use sound to locate food, to navigate, to communicate with one another and to find a mate," said Torres, a faculty member in OSU's Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and an ecologist with the Oregon Sea Grant program.
Ten years ago, such a study would not have been possible, Torres acknowledged. In addition to new advances in genetic and hormone analyses, the OSU team uses a drone to fly high above the whales. It not only detects when they defecate, it is giving them unprecedented views of whale behavior.
"We are seeing things through the drone cameras that we have never seen before," Torres said. "Because of the overhead views, we now know that whales are much more agile in their feeding. We call them 'bendy' whales because they make such quick, sharp turns when feeding. These movements just can't be seen from the deck of a ship."
The use of small, underwater Go-Pro cameras allows them to observe what the whales are feeding upon below. The researchers can identify zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, and fish in the water column near feeding whales, and estimate abundance – helping them understand what attracts the whales to certain habitats.
Joe Haxel and Sharon Nieukirk are acoustic scientists at the Hatfield center who are assisting with the project. They deploy drifting hydrophones near the whales to record natural and human sounds, help operate the overhead drone camera that monitors the whales' behavior, and also get in on the fecal analysis.
"Gray whales are exposed to a broad range of small- and medium-sized boat traffic that includes sport fishing and commercial fleets," Haxel said. "Since they are very much a coastal species, their exposure to anthropogenic noise is pretty high. That said, the nearshore environment is already very noisy with natural sounds including wind and breaking surf, so we're trying to suss out some of the space and time patterns in noise levels in the range of habitats where the whales are found."
It will take years for the researchers to learn how ocean noise affects whale behavior and health, but as ocean noises continue increasing – through ship traffic, wave energy projects, sonar use, seismic surveys and storms – the knowledge they gain may be applicable to many whale species, Torres said.
And the key to this baseline study takes a skilled, professional pooper-scooper.
"When a whale defecates, it generates this reddish cloud and the person observing the whale usually screams "POOP!" and we spring into action," Torres said. "It's a moment of excitement, action – and also sheer joy. I know that sounds a little weird, but we have less than 30 seconds to get in there and scoop up some of that poop that may provide us with a biological gold mine of information that will help protect whales into the future.
"That's not such a bad job after all, is it?"
For a video of the research, click here
10 weeks as a PROMISE Intern
Posted on August 22, 2016 by murphya2	| Leave a reply
Written by Ricardo Perez, PROMISE Intern
Ricardo Perez, OSU Open Campus 2016 PROMISE intern
I am Ricardo Perez and I am the 2016 PROMISE intern for Outreach and Engagement, Open Campus. I am entering my junior year here at Oregon State University studying Business Management with an option in International Business. After hearing about the large professional development growth the previous PROMISE interns had, I decided to apply to the program in hopes of obtaining the same skills.
Having the opportunity to be mentored by Jeff Sherman, the program leader for Open Campus, has been far from boring. Jeff gave me the tools necessary to evolve into a more competent individual in the business world. Through my experience, Jeff instructed me on programming logistics, how to use project management software, how to communicate with community partners and he gave me the freedom to create new projects.
I would also like to mention Hollie Conger. Hollie is in charge of marketing and communications for Open Campus. Hollie greatly influenced my experience and positively impacted my marketing skills. Through our work, Hollie showed me how to manage social media accounts, edit video, maintain the website and use Adobe Illustrator.
My experience as an intern would not have been the same if it were not for these individuals. Being able to intern for people who create an engaging and energizing environment made my time as an intern the best it could be. The support they gave me and the skills I acquired have truly impacted my professional development.
Ricardo Perez with OSU Open Campus mentors Jeff Sherman and Hollie Conger
My main project was to organize the 2016 Roads Scholar Engagement Tour. The main goal for The Roads Scholar Tour is to invite newer faculty and employees who are new to engagement, to gain a sense for community engagement and to form relationships with colleagues who do similar work. This year's tour is located in Central Oregon, with stops in Warm Springs, Redmond, and Bend. Having the opportunity to construct The Roads Scholar Tour and collaborate with so many members has enhanced my communication skills and prepared me for a career in business.
Along with planning The Roads Scholar Engagement Tour, I was involved in small projects for the Juntos program. Through this experience, I had the opportunity to work with Ana Gomez, the main coordinator for Juntos. Working with Ana made this experience so fun and exciting! Seeing someone who is so passionate in helping others really sparked my fascination with the program. Through my experience, I learned how Juntos works to empower families around education, is constructed to prevent youth from dropping out of high school and encourages families to work together to gain access to college. My main project for Juntos was planning the 2017 Family Day, an event where families have an opportunity to visit the OSU campus and learn more about the different resources available.
It is hard to believe that my journey as an intern is more than half way complete. My experience here at Outreach and Engagement, Open Campus has been one I will never forget. The amount of professional, as well as personal growth I developed is something I never thought would happen in a short 10 weeks.
I am honored to interact with people who truly enjoy positively impacting the Oregon community. I would like to give thanks to my mentors who have shown me the immense impact Outreach and Engagement has, as well as preparing me for the professional world. Jeff, Hollie, Ana, and Pam, thank you for all your hard work and for providing me the best experience possible at Outreach and Engagement.
OSU Open Campus
University Outreach and Engagement
Other UOE blogs
Hybrid Faculty Learning Community
Tree Topics
Engagement Academy
Extension Reconsidered
First Monday Update
O&E Dvision Update
O&E Leadership
Sea Grant
Archives Select Month January 2021 (1) December 2020 (1) November 2020 (1) October 2020 (1) September 2020 (1) August 2020 (1) July 2020 (1) June 2020 (1) May 2020 (1) April 2020 (1) March 2020 (1) February 2020 (1) January 2020 (1) December 2019 (1) November 2019 (1) October 2019 (1) September 2019 (1) August 2019 (1) July 2019 (1) June 2019 (1) May 2019 (1) April 2019 (1) March 2019 (1) February 2019 (1) January 2019 (1) December 2018 (1) November 2018 (1) October 2018 (1) September 2018 (1) August 2018 (1) July 2018 (1) June 2018 (1) May 2018 (1) April 2018 (1) March 2018 (1) February 2018 (1) January 2018 (1) December 2017 (1) November 2017 (1) October 2017 (1) September 2017 (1) August 2017 (1) July 2017 (4) June 2017 (12) May 2017 (1) April 2017 (4) March 2017 (7) February 2017 (4) January 2017 (2) December 2016 (5) November 2016 (2) October 2016 (4) September 2016 (5) August 2016 (2) July 2016 (6) June 2016 (3) May 2016 (4) April 2016 (5) March 2016 (5) February 2016 (5) January 2016 (5) December 2015 (5) November 2015 (4) October 2015 (1) September 2015 (1) August 2015 (1) July 2015 (1) June 2015 (1) May 2015 (1) April 2015 (1) March 2015 (1) February 2015 (1) January 2015 (1) December 2014 (2) November 2014 (2) October 2014 (2) September 2014 (2) August 2014 (3) July 2014 (4) June 2014 (2) May 2014 (4) April 2014 (6) March 2014 (3) February 2014 (1) January 2014 (3) December 2013 (1) October 2013 (2) August 2013 (2) June 2013 (1) May 2013 (2) April 2013 (1) March 2013 (2) February 2013 (2) January 2013 (1) December 2012 (3) November 2012 (2) October 2012 (4) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (5) July 2012 (1) June 2012 (2) May 2011 (1)
Kate Winslate on End of the year message
Rakesh Kumar on Engaging Millennials – Insights from Jeff Hino, who leads the Division's exploration of the Internet of Things
Kapaklı SEO Uzmanı on Outreach and engagement innovation
satta matka 420 on Outreach and engagement innovation
Anita on What did 2020 teach us?
© 2021 Extension and Engagement, all rights reserved.


text:
E&P Funds
Portfolio Manager and key personnel
The Portfolio Manager will provide the Investment Manager with expert advice and recommendations in relation to its investment portfolio including the investment strategy, evaluation of investment opportunities and potential disposals, as well as portfolio management.
Will has a diverse background in finance and management, and brings extensive experience in research, analysis and evaluation of both financial and capital markets to Walsh & Company.
As Portfolio Manager, Will is primarily responsible for managing the investment process for the Australian Governance & Ethical Index Fund, a portfolio of the ASX 100's top performing corporations evaluated on a range of governance, environmental and social standards.
Before joining Walsh & Company, Will was most recently an Associate Director with parent company Evans Dixon, primarily responsible for researching, structuring and executing capital market transactions across the group. Prior to the Evans Dixon merger, Will was Research Manager for Dixon Advisory, where he supported the Investment Committee with in-depth company and investment market research.
Will holds a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Finance and Accounting from the University of Melbourne in addition to a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University.
Matthew has extensive experience in the global asset management and financial services sectors, and his analytical skills, understanding of portfolio management and financial markets provide valuable input into the decision-making process. Matthew's career collectively spans almost two decades, including 10 years at Colonial First State Global Asset Management and five years in the global resources investment team as an analyst/equity dealer.
Matthew holds a Bachelor of Engineering and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney. He is also a CFA charter holder.
Matthew Baillie
Senior Performance Analyst
Walsh & Company Asset Management Pty Limited is the Investment Manager for the Fund and is responsible for investment decisions.
The directors of the Investment Manager are:
Alex joined Evans Dixon in 2008 to lead the then newly formed Funds Management division, Walsh & Company. Alex focused the efforts of Walsh & Company on targeting investment opportunities where the investment committee had high conviction, where the investment team had a competitive edge, and where Walsh & Company could provide unique solutions for investors.
From funds under management of under $100 million at the time of his start, Alex has grown Walsh & Company to a multi-billion-dollar global fund manager. With operations spanning Australia, the United States, and Europe, Walsh & Company today manages investments across global infrastructure, property, private equity, listed equities, and fixed income.
Prior to joining Dixon Advisory, Alex was an investment banker at UBS AG, where he rose to Head of Energy for Australasia. During his tenure in investment banking, Alex worked on more than $100 billion in mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions, advising some of the world's leading companies.
Alex has a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University and a Masters of Business Administration from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Alex MacLachlan
Jaclyn joined Walsh & Company in 2016 to lead corporate finance and capital raising transactions. Jaclyn has a corporate law background and brings substantial experience specialising in debt and equity markets, mergers and acquisitions and corporate development in Australia and the UK, working in listed company and professional services environments.
Prior to joining Walsh & Company, Jaclyn was legal counsel for Aurizon, managing legal risk and strategy across the business development, M&A, strategy, governance and treasury functions. Prior to Aurizon, Jaclyn worked as legal counsel in capital markets and professional services with Instinet and PwC Legal in London and Mallesons Stephen Jaques in Australia.
Jaclyn Strelow
Responsible Entity
The Responsible Entity is responsible for the overall management of the Fund, including the determination of its strategic direction with the aim of increasing Unitholder wealth through the performance of the Fund.
Stuart joined the board of the Responsible Entity as the independent Chairman in December 2019. Stuart has more than 30 years' experience in property development, project finance, funds management, equity and debt raising and real estate corporate advisory in Australia and Asia and is the founder and principal of independent corporate advisory firm, Archerfield Partners. Prior to founding Archerfield, Stuart held senior banking and investment banking roles with ANZ, NM Rothschild & Sons (Australia) and Macquarie Bank and as a senior finance and development executive with the Lend Lease group.
Stuart is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce with Merit and a Master of Commerce from the University of NSW, and in 2005 was appointed a Fellow of the Australian Property Institute.
Stuart Nisbett
Independent Chairman
Peter joined the board of the Responsible Entity as an independent Director in December 2019. Peter has significant expertise in funds management, financial advisory and complex lending arrangements including leveraged finance, property development and debt workout situations. Peter was most recently Co-Managing Partner of Opportunistic Lending and Special Situations at LIM Advisors. Prior to this role, Peter held the positions of Chief Risk Officer and Managing Director & Head of Corporate and Structured Finance at Lloyds Banking Group (and its predecessor HBOS plc) in Australia. Peter was also previously a Partner in Corporate Finance & Restructuring at Ernst & Young.
He has had various advisory and non-executive director roles for global credit funds and was the NRL's Board representative on Newcastle Knights Rugby League.
Peter has a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology Sydney, an Executive MBA from AGSM, is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, a Fellow of FINSIA and a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Peter Shear
Independent Director
Prior to joining Walsh & Company, Warwick worked in chartered accounting firms specialising in turnaround and restructuring. Warwick started his career with KPMG working in their Canberra, Sydney and London offices – and has undertaken a range of complex restructuring and insolvency engagements across Europe, UK and Australia, for a range of Australian, UK, European and US banks.
Warwick has worked with companies and lenders to develop and implement strategic business options, provide advice in relation to continuous disclosure requirements, develop cash forecasting training for national firms, and lectured on cash management. Among his former roles, Warwick worked on the initial stages of the HIH insolvency – as part of the key management group tasked with the wind-down of the global estate.
Warwick has a Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Commerce from the Australian National University and is a Chartered Accountant.
Warwick Keneally
Mike has extensive experience across a broad range of corporate, commercial and private client sectors. His core practice areas involve the provision of advice and transactional expertise in relation to new and existing retail financial products and the regulatory framework within which they operate, as well as debt and equity financing, intellectual property, and film and television media law among others., Mike has previously worked in private practice, public sector and in-house roles in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, acting across multiple industries for a variety of clients, including high-net-worth individuals, banks and financial institutions, as well as numerous listed and unlisted corporate entities.
Mike is also a director with Barnett Law, a Sydney-based financial services law firm, and is admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW. He has a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Otago.
Disclaimer - This website is intended to provide general information only and has been prepared by E&P Investments Limited (Responsible Entity) without taking into account any particular person's objectives, financial situation or needs. Investors should, before acting on this information, consider the appropriateness of this information having regard to their personal objectives, financial situation or needs. We recommend investors obtain financial advice specific to their situation before making any financial investment decision. Neither the Responsible Entity nor the Investment Manager give any warranty, make any representation as to, or accept responsibility for, its accuracy, reliability, timeliness or completeness now or in the future. While the information provided by the Responsible Entity is believed to be accurate the Responsible Entity does not accept responsibility for any inaccuracy or any actions taken upon reliance with the information on this website.
Noted entities Australian Governance & Ethical Index Fund (ARSN 625 826 646), E&P Investments Limited (ACN 152 367 649, AFSL 410 433) (Responsible Entity), E&P Funds Management Pty Limited (ACN 159 902 708, AFSL 450 257) (Investment Manager).
E&P Funds FSG | Privacy policy | Important information
© Copyright 2019 E&P Investments Limited (ACN 152 367 649 | AFSL 410 433)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
The Adaptive Transformation of Yemen's Republican Guard
Tue, 03/07/2017 - 10:45pm
Lucas Winter
In the summer of 1978, Colonel Ali Abdullah Saleh became president of the Yemeni Arab Republic (YAR) or North Yemen. Like his short-lived predecessor Ahmad al-Ghashmi, Saleh had been a tank unit commander in the YAR military before ascending the ranks.[1] Like al-Ghashmi, Saleh belonged to a tribe with limited national political influence but a strong presence in the country's military.[2] Three months into Saleh's presidency, conspirators allied with communists from the Popular Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), or South Yemen, staged a coup and briefly seized key government installations in the capital Sana'a. The 1st Armored Brigade, North Yemen's main tank unit at the time, was deployed to quell the insurrection. The 1st Armored Brigade subsequently expanded to become the 1st Armored Division. Commanded by Saleh's kinsman Ali Muhsin al-Ahmar, it became North Yemen's premiere military unit and took control of vital installations in the capital. The division played a decisive role in securing victory for Saleh and his allies in Yemen's 1994 Civil War.
Although the 1st Armored Division functioned as President Saleh's Praetorian Guard, his personal safety was in the hands of the Yemeni Republican Guard (YRG), a small force created with Egyptian support in the early days of the republic.[3] YRG headquarters were in "Base 48," located on the capital's southern outskirts abutting the territories of Saleh's Sanhan tribe. Over the next 15 years, the YRG grew to comprise three brigades: in addition to the unit stationed in Base 48 (Sawwad), there was an air defense unit in Naqm Mountain and a third brigade located in Dhabwa, also near the border between Sanhan and the capital.[4] President Saleh established close ties with Saddam Hussein during the 1980s, and the YRG received training from and began modeling itself after the Iraqi Republican Guard.
Saleh's half-brother Ali Saleh al-Ahmar was the YRG's commander throughout the 1980s. During the 1994 Civil War he was said to have suffered from panic attacks.[5] This along with rumors he was using the YRG to plot a coup, and reports of a deadly tussle between his son and the president, eventually got him banished to Washington DC as Yemen's military attaché.[6] According to most interpretations, Ali Saleh al-Ahmar was marginalized as part of a plan, launched following the 1994 Civil War, which involved installing a new generation of Saleh family members in top military commands.
The new generation's leadership core consisted of Ali Abdullah Saleh's sons and nephews, most of whom had received military training abroad, including in Great Britain, the United States and Jordan. What influence they may have lacked on Yemen's local politics they presumably made up for with expertise in military theory and connections to the levers of global power. The new generation was to build a professional force free of the venality and incompetence that characterized Yemen's military. It would then be used to shepherd the country into the post-Ali Abdullah Saleh period. At the center of this plan lay the YRG, and the president's son and presumed heir Ahmed Saleh was appointed its commander in 1999. That same year President Saleh announced his intention of pushing for constitutional amendments allowing him to stay in power until 2013, after which his son was expected to take over.
Ali Abdullah Saleh's family was not historically influential in the broader affairs of Sanhan, and his move to consolidate power within his family was viewed with suspicion by more established Sanhani families. Among the most vocal critics was the commander of Yemen's Eastern Military District, a close ally of Ali Muhsin named Mohammed Ismail al-Qadhi. Al-Qadhi allegedly objected to Saleh's request that Ali Muhsin's 1st Armored Division cede an important military base guarding the western entrance of the capital to the YRG. In August 1999, not long after clashing with the president, Al-Qadhi and several other senior officers died in a helicopter crash.[7] YRG units took over the 1st Armored Division's base the following day.[8]
The YRG bypassed the defense ministry and responded directly to the president. Under Ahmed Saleh's command it grew to become Yemen's elite military unit at the expense of Yemen's conventional forces, which were already riddled with corruption and neglect.[9] Most if not all of the new weapons systems acquired after 1994 went to the YRG and associated forces.[10] In 2002, U.S. troops were deployed to "train with, assist and advise" YRG troops.[11] Significant U.S. military assistance was also disbursed to establish the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) within the Central Security Forces (CSF), which were commanded by one of the president's nephews.[12]
The YRG also took possession of the Yemeni military's strategic weapons, including Soviet-era SCUD missiles from the PDRY arsenal and SS-21 Scarabs from YAR stocks, as well as newer SCUD-types imported from North Korea in the 2000s. The missiles were housed in fortified depots on a hillside overlooking Sana'a and overseen by the YRG's 5th and 6th Missile Brigades. Yemeni air defense assets guarding the capital were also under YRG control. The YRG received Yemen's newest main battle tanks, the T-72 and M-60A1, as well as the country's most advanced artillery systems.[13] The YRG had its own production facilities,[14] and by the end of the decade had grown into a self-contained force superior to Yemen's conventional forces. In total, the YRG consisted of nearly two dozen brigades, including mechanized, artillery and mechanized infantry, as well as air defense and missile brigades and specialized infantry units including special forces, presidential guard and mountain infantry.
Despite its extensive resources and training, the YRG was plagued by the corruption and factionalism that permeated Yemen's conventional armed forces and its government more broadly. Many YRG commanders were chosen for political rather than meritocratic reasons.[15] According to a Yemeni media report from late 2012, at least 52,000 of the YRG's alleged 128,000 soldiers were "ghost soldiers," making the actual force no greater than 78,000.[16] Media reports of clashes between factions within YRG units were common, as were mutinies and accusations that officers were using their positions for self-enrichment. The YRG helped fuel the Huthi insurgency from 2004 to 2010 by providing the rebels with weapons in order to weaken the 1st Armored Division, which had been tasked with suppressing the insurgency. The YRG performed poorly in its few significant engagements, such as in 2008 with Huthi backers in Bani Hushaysh on the outskirts of Sana'a.[17] When protests broke out throughout the country in early 2011, lightly armed tribesmen expelled the YRG from a base in al-Jawf, near the border with Saudi Arabia. Protesters encircled other YRG bases, and hundreds if not thousands of YRG members joined the anti-government movement.
The YRG's shortcomings were made plain by their struggles to contain armed supporters from Arhab and Nihm, two important tribes occupying strategic territory near the capital's north and northeast entry points. Powerful families from both tribes had joined the anti-Saleh movement, and during the protests of 2011 groups from Arhab and Nihm met at a junction near the international airport to the capital's north and marched thence to join anti-government protests in the capital. The YRG's 62d Brigade set up various checkpoints along this route and began detaining and harassing protesters. Tensions boiled over after a man from Arhab was killed at one of these checkpoints.[18] The tribesmen surrounded the 62d Brigade with a "protest camp" consisting of more than 30 tents and over 1,000 people, in essence laying siege to the military base.[19] In July 2011, Arhab anti-government fighters came close to overrunning two other nearby YRG brigades (3d Mountain Infantry Brigade and 83rd YRG Artillery Brigade) but were chased off by the Yemeni Air Force, which at that point was still under Saleh's control.
In 2012 Murad al-Awbali, a member of Saleh's Sanhan tribe, was put in charge of the 62d Brigade in Arhab. A few weeks after his appointment, al-Awbali was kidnapped while traveling through territory of the Khawlan al-Tiyyal tribes, directly north of Sanhan territory and not far from the capital Sana'a. Al-Awbali's captors were YRG personnel who supported Ali Mushin and the opposition Islah Party. They had been dismissed for joining the protest movement in early 2011 and now wanted back pay and reinstatement, as stipulated by the UN-backed transitional roadmap (the "GCC Initiative").[20] The kidnappers immediately downplayed the tribal aspect of their action, noting that their demands were directed toward the state and the YRG rather than toward Sanhan. This did not deter al-Awbali's kinsmen from setting up checkpoints on the road between Khawlan territory and the capital, kidnapping dozens of men and demanding that al-Awbali be freed in exchange.[21] In early June a prominent Sanhani leader close to Ali Abdullah Saleh became involved in the mediation and eventually negotiated al-Awbali's release. A telling video of the negotiations showed how despite being a high-ranking YRG commander, a powerless al-Awbali watched passively as tribal leaders negotiated his fate.
The post-1994 YRG had been conceived as a professional army in which resources, training and advanced weaponry would replace the leveraging of patronage networks and tribal alliances as the basis for military and political supremacy. Rather than being thrust into the nitty-gritty of Yemeni tribal politics, Saleh's sons and nephews were sent abroad to receive military training and establish foreign contacts. Yet as al-Awbali's kidnapping showed, tribal politics often reigned supreme. Ali Muhsin and his decaying 1st Armored Division were well aware of this, and they remained relevant by maintaining a network of tribal, military and political connections. Writing in the daily al-Masdar Online, one Yemeni commentator explained how "Ali Muhsin lost his army one brigade at a time, but his home and his office were open daily to sheikhs and community leaders, and he built strong relationships with military leaders not only in the various military sectors but even within the YRG."[22]
Its shortcomings notwithstanding, the YRG remained Yemen's most formidable force when protests broke out in 2011. With rockets and artillery positioned above the main access points to Sana'a, it was well positioned to repel a military incursion.[23] Units from the Central Security Forces, also controlled by the new Saleh generation, were deployed inside the city. The public defection of Ali Muhsin al-Ahmar in March 2011 raised expectations of an armed struggle for control over the capital involving the 1st Armored Division on one side and combined YRG/Central Security Forces on the other, but the looming conflict was averted with Ali Abdullah Saleh's November 2011 resignation.
Saleh's resignation put a formal end to more than 30 years of carefully calibrated tribal-military rule. Replacing Saleh was a simplistic transitional roadmap, sponsored by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and with backing from the United Nations (UN). The GCC- and UN-backed transitional period began in earnest with the February 2012 referendum on whether longtime Saleh's vice-president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi would remain as the country's president for the two-year transitional period. The referendum passed with a solid if unenthusiastic majority, given that large swathes of the population boycotted the process.
Among the priorities of the transitional period were reforms to the military and security sectors, most importantly the dismissal of Saleh and his close family from command positions in the YRG and associated forces.[24] The 1st Armored Division was also slated for an overhaul in structure and command. In April 2012 Hadi removed the ex-president's nephew Tariq Saleh from command of the YRG 3d Armored Brigade and Special Guard; the first member of the new generation targeted for reassignment, he finally relinquished control after several months of extended negotiations.[25] In August Hadi folded three YRG units and one from the 1st Armored Division into the newly created Presidential Guard. Two more units from the YRG and six from the 1st Armored Division were put under regional commands. The following week a group of YRG soldiers unsuccessfully tried to storm the defense ministry in Sana'a. In December 2012 units from the Central Security Forces and the remaining YRG units were incorporated into a new formation called the Strategic Reserves Forces. The YRG's three missile/artillery brigades became part of a new "Missile Brigades Group" under the conventional chain of command. A final round of restructuring took place in April 2013, when new units were added to the Strategic Reserve Forces and the national military command went from five to seven military sectors, now identified by number rather than location. Ahmed Saleh was reassigned from YRG commander to UAE ambassador, theoretically putting the entirety of ex-president Saleh's praetorian forces under the control of President Hadi and his defense minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed.
On paper the restructuring looked successful, as the YRG and the 1st Armored Division were officially dissolved and Saleh's close family members had all been replaced. In reality, neither Defense Minister Ahmed nor President Hadi was willing or able to fully reform a system that had provided them with a life of material comfort and social prestige. Although the entire new Saleh generation was pushed aside, their replacements were mostly career officers who were reluctant to fully break with the regime from which they had greatly benefited. Commanders whose careers preceded the Saleh presidency, such as Ali al-Jaifi (Ahmed Saleh's replacement as YRG commander), were inclined to tweak rather than overthrow the status quo.
Perhaps the most important consequence of restructuring was that by the end of the process the YRG and other military entities were in disarray. Entire units of the YRG dissolved amidst mutinies, desertions and infighting, with soldiers often taking equipment with them.[26] Ali Abdullah Saleh is said to have transferred large quantities of weapons from military stockpiles to his home area of Sanhan.[27] The transitional authorities became increasingly unable to provide services and security, including the wages and perks YRG officers had come to expect.
When the transitional negotiations fell apart in January 2014, Yemen was cast into political limbo. The restructured YRG forces were nominally loyal to the transitional authorities, but they were unable or unwilling to prevent supporters of the Huthi Movement from encircling the capital in the summer of 2014. In echoes of the strategy used by Arhab tribesmen a few years earlier, the Huthis surrounded YRG positions near the capital with "protest camps." Despite occasional clashes with Huthi gunmen and supporters, the YRG largely remained on the sidelines.
The Huthis and the Saleh government had been sworn enemies for the second half of the 2000s. Even then, Saleh loyalists in the YRG worked with the Huthis against the 1st Armored Division, which was the main government force fighting the Huthi insurgency.[28] In 2014, Saleh allies in the YRG (of which there were presumed to be many) once again saw common cause with Huthi leaders. Huthi influence in the YRG may have also been substantial, albeit hard to quantify. One anonymous source from 2012 claimed, perhaps fancifully, that over half of the YRG were Huthi sympathizers and 80% were Zaydis.[29]
In late summer 2014 pro-Huthi protesters cut off access to Sana'a International Airport and surrounded vital ministries downtown, while at the same time reinforcing the encirclement of the capital. On 21 September Huthi fighters entered Sana'a and immediately overran the remaining positions of the former 1st Armored Division. After seizing key installations they pressured the transitional authorities into forming a "national salvation" government under Huthi leadership. Ali al-Jaifi, commander of the former YRG, issued a statement welcoming the new government and reaffirming the neutrality of forces under his control. The Huthis named Zakaria al-Shami, a supporter from a prominent Hashemite family, as deputy chief of staff of the armed forces.[30] Other officers sympathetic to the Huthis were appointed to key commands, including in the YRG.[31]
According to documents leaked by a high-level defector, a Huthi priority was to co-opt the YRG into its own chain of command, under the leadership of Abd al-Khaliq al-Huthi, brother of the group's leader Abd al-Malik.[32] Shortly after entering the capital, the Huthis forcefully stormed several YRG positions, placing loyalists within the forces' command structure. Hundreds of Huthi fighters were incorporated into YRG ranks as soldiers. The YRG may have lost some its independence, but the injection of experienced and loyal foot soldiers revived its capabilities.
Some Yemeni media outlets argued that by the summer of 2015 the Huthis had seized full control of the YRG, though it appears that Saleh loyalists continued to hold sway within its command.[33] Quantifying the extent to which one or the other group had power over this complex and newly adaptable entity was virtually impossible. By early 2015, the YRG-Huthi hybrid was transforming into a force composed of ideologically motivated irregular fighters working alongside operators of heavy weaponry and professionally trained commanders. Rather than the Egyptian, Iraqi or Jordanian Republican Guards on which it had been variously modeled, under Huthi pressure the YRG rapidly drifted toward a structure more commonly associated with Hizbullah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Shortly after seizing the capital the Huthis began transferring heavy weaponry from the YRG and 1st Armored Division to their strongholds near the border with Saudi Arabia. Alleging that SCUD missiles from YRG stockpiles had been transferred north of Sana'a and pointed toward Saudi Arabia, in March 2015 the Saudi Air Force launched a bombing campaign targeting a variety of military targets. Some of the fiercest Saudi bombing runs focused on YRG bases surrounding Sana'a.[34] In April 2015 the YRG spokesman stated that YRG units had been scattered and redeployed in light of Saudi strikes.[35] Overmatched by Saudi airpower, the YRG became even more intertwined with the Huthis, and in the following months the YRG and the Huthi "Popular Committees" took credit for joint operations along the Saudi border, including ambushing Saudi patrols, launching raids into Saudi territory, blowing up isolated border guard posts, and raining artillery rockets on Saudi areas along the border. In June 2015, they launched the first of dozens of ballistic missiles toward Saudi territory. On the battlefield it became virtually impossible to separate the YRG and the "Popular Committees."
The YRG-Huthi hybrid forces have survived over a year and half of fierce Saudi bombardment. In October 2016, Saudi bombers struck a funeral hall and killed over a hundred Yemeni mourners, including prominent political and military leaders. One of the victims was Ali al-Jaifi, who had until then remained nominally in command of the remaining YRG forces. Some rumors claimed that al-Jaifi would be replaced by Murad al-Awbali, the Saleh loyalist who had been kidnapped in 2012. Others claimed that Abdel Khaleq al-Huthi would take command of the YRG.[36] As of early December 2016, the situation remained unclear.
The YRG has proven to be a resilient entity, able to adapt to volatility and adverse conditions. During the transitional period (2012-2014), its command and leadership structure was modified under the auspices of a Saudi-led, UN-backed plan. The modifications turned out to be largely superficial, for when the Huthis entered Sana'a the purported praetorian forces refused to fight for the transitional government. The era of Huthi influence (2014-present) has in contrast forced the YRG to amalgamate with the Huthis. The internationally recognized government, still led by Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has sought to drive a wedge between these two entities. The most recent such attempt involved moving Yemen's central bank from Sana'a to Aden, making it difficult for the Huthi government to pay the salaries of angry YRG commanders who had gone months without a paycheck.
The YRG-Huthi hybrid force represents the effective amalgamation of young, ideologically motivated foot soldiers on the one hand and trained operators of heavy weaponry and advanced equipment on the other hand. It has proven highly resilient to the Saudi strategy of overmatch via airpower and may no longer be separable into its constituent parts. The YRG-Huthi force is in many ways similar to the successful fighting groups emerging from the battlefields of Syria and Iraq, and as such it provides a template for the type of forces that will define the region's operational environment for years to come.
The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
The Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) assesses regional military and security issues through open-source media and direct engagement with foreign military and security specialists to advise army leadership on issues of policy and planning critical to the U.S. Army and the wider military community.
[1] From 1918 to 1962, North Yemen was ruled by the Hamid al-Din family, whose leadership claim was based on their status as Hashemites, or descendants of the Prophet Muhammad via his grandsons Hassan and Hussein. Following the death of Imam Ahmed Hamid al-Din in 1962, Egyptian-backed officers seized power and established a republican system of government, including a military modeled on Egypt's. For the rest of the decade, Republicans and Royalists fought a civil war in North Yemen, with the former eventually emerging victorious.
[2] Paul Dresch. A History of Modern Yemen (Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 148-149.
[3] "Why Did the Huthis Choose Hezyaz as Protest Site?" al-Masdar Online. 15 September 2014 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://almasdaronline.info/article/62039
[4] "Geography of the Expected War in Yemen." al-Masdar Online. 15 October 2011 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://almasdaronline.com/article/print/24506
[5] Dresch, A History of Modern Yemen. p. 196.
[6] He eventually returned to Yemen as a presidential adviser in 2001, but by then his influence in the YRG had been significantly curbed. "Why did Ali Saleh al-Ahmar Go Back to Commanding the Republican Guard?!" al-Masdar Online. 21 April 2011 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://almasdaronline.com/article/18832
[7] Lucas Winter. "Restructuring Yemen's Military Leadership." Foreign Military Studies Office, 2012. Accessed 17 December 2016. http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/Restructuring-Yemen-Military.pdf
[8] "Geography of the Expected War in Yemen." al-Masdar.
[9] Farea al-Muslimi. "Yemen Wastes Time." al-Monitor, 23 December 2013. Accessed 17 December 2016. www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/12/yemen-government-time-wasting-favoritism.html
[10] "Associated Forces" includes the various other military units led by Saleh's sons and nephews and the paramilitary Central Security Forces. The term YRG is often used in this paper to refer to all of these forces. To avoid confusion, YRG is also used to refer to these forces during the transitional restructuring era (2012-2014).
[11] "U.S. Will Send Troops to Yemen In Training, Assistance Capacity." Wall Street Journal. 1 March 2002. Accessed 17 December 2016. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1014933100485431160
[12] Jeremy Shapiro. "Yemen: Background and U.S. Relations." Congressional Research Service, 6 October 2011. Accessed 17 December 2016. https://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/175903.pdf
[13] "The Deposed Saleh's Army… A Third of a Century to Build, Destroyed by the Coalition in Months." al-Yaum. 21 February 2016 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://www.alyaum.com/article/4121348
[14] In December 2010 YRG announced they were producing modern armored vehicles called Jalal-1, Jalal-2 and Jalal-3. YRG Facebook Page (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. https://www.facebook.com/Rrpublican/photos/a.155121451224595.37152.155119921224748/403530796383658/
[15] "The Republican Guard… Who Created It?" Mareb Press. 20 June 2011. (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://marebpress.net/articles.php?id=10731&lng=arabic
[16] "President Hadi: Saleh Controls 1,000 Tanks, 13 Artillery and Missile Brigades, and 52,000 'Ghost' Soldiers in the Republican Guard." Nashwan News. 10 December 2012 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://nashwannews.com/news.php?action=view&id=21663
[17] "Secrets of the Army Joining the Yemeni Revolution: Part 2." Mareb Press. 4 April 2011 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://marebpress.net/news_details.php?sid=32562
[18] Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, the YRG 62d Brigade's former commander, provides an example of the factionalism and politicization permeating the YRG. Al-Bukhaiti hails from a tribal group (al-Hada) whose territories are strategically located south of Sana'a and which has historical links to the Yemeni military. Still struggling to contain Arhab's tribal militias, in early 2012 he ordered one of his units to storm a nearby Arhab village. Several of his subordinates refused, and in a subsequent tussle one of them shot al-Bukhaiti in the hand. Shortly thereafter he was swapped with the YRG commander in Taiz, but the following year he was also ousted from that command, over charges of corruption and hoarding of resources.
"After al-Bukhaiti's Insistence to Storm al-Abwa Village, Fariha Camp Defects, He Is Injured, and Two Soldiers Are Killed." Mareb Press. 16 January 2012 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://marebpress.net/nprint.php?sid=39685
[19] "Arhab, Nehm and Bani Jarmouz… A Story of Blood, Destruction and Displacement." al-Masdar Online. 23 November 2011 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://almasdaronline.com/article/25813
[20] "Sheikhs from Qarawa Clarify the al-Awbali Kidnapping and Ask Politicians to Steer Clear of Khawlan." Saadah Press. 30 June 2012 (Arabic). http://www.saadahpress.net/news/news-5097.htm
[21] "Tribal Mediation Fails to Free the Kidnapped General." Mareb Press. 29 July 2012 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2012. http://marebpress.net/news_details.php?sid=45041
[22] "Geography of the Expected War in Yemen." al-Masdar.
[23] The YRG also held strategic high ground at the entry points to the important city of Taiz. When protests broke out there in 2011, the YRG's ability to hold that ground prevented the city from falling fully out of government hands.
[24] These included: Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh (son) as commander of the Republican Guard and Special Forces, Khalid Ali Abdullah Saleh (son) as commander of the Armored Mountain Forces, Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh (nephew) as head of Central Security, Tariq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh (nephew) as head of the Special Guard, Ammar Mohammed Abdullah Saleh al-Ahmar (nephew) as head of the National Security Agency, and Mohammed Saleh Abdullah al-Ahmar (half-nephew) as head of the Air Force.
[25] Abdul Rahman al-Halaihili, an army veteran who had been commanding the 37th Armored Brigade in Hadhramout, was put in charge of the powerful YRG 3d Brigade. Because al-Halihili came from the regular army and not the YRG, his influence remained limited.
[26] For instance at the time of the first major restructuring (December 2012), the 1st Brigade of the former Special Guard which was incorporated into the new Presidential Guard, was believed to only have 10% of its weapons remaining. "The Task of Recovering Military Loot." al-Masdar Online. 14 July 2013 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://almasdaronline.com/article/48109
[27] "Saleh Has Massive Depots of Deadly Weapons in Sanhan." al-Arabiya. 11 May 2015 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. https://goo.gl/clLbbI
[28] Winter. "Restructuring Yemen's Military Leadership."
[29] "Military Expert: Huthis Control 60% of Republican Guard Forces." Yemen Press. 23 August 2012 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. https://yemen-press.com/news11872.html
[30] "The Secret Political Hashemite Organization and Important Details on General Yahya al-Shami." Huna Aden. 7 June 2016 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://hunaaden.com/news33059.html
The Zaydi system of government, which dominated parts of Yemen for hundreds of years up until its overthrow by Egypt-backed Yemeni soldiers in 1962, draws its rulers (imams) exclusively from Hashemite families. The Huthis are a Hashemite family, though hardly one of the more important ones in Yemeni politics. Yahya al-Shami had held several important positions in Saleh's government and political party GPC, while at the same time being a prominent member of the Hashemite community.
[31] "Increasing Huthi Hegemony Over Republican Guard Drives Saleh Crazy." Yemen Press. 7 November 2016 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016 .http://yemen-press.com/news84980.html
Prominent Huthi supporters in the military included Mohammed Yahya Sharf al-Din (operations commander for the YRG), "Abu Adel" (staff commander of the YRG), Zakaria al-Mutaa (4th Reserve Forces Brigade Commander) and Hassan al-Malsi, who was killed in September commanding forces near Saudi border.
[32] "Huthi Leader Publishes Secret Documents on Huthi Conspiracy to Take Over the Republican Guard." al-Tagheer. 12 October 2016 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://www.al-tagheer.com/news91847.html
[33] "Saleh Loses Control of the Republican Guard." Yemen Press. 25 July 2015 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://yemen-press.com/news51765.html
[34] These included the Rima Hamid Base in Sanhan, Base 48 in Huzayz, al-Summa and al-Farija in Arhab, a Special Forces Base in Asr (west of the capital), missile bases in Attan and weapons depots in Naqm Mountain.
[35] "Republican Guard Spokesman Discloses Military Units Redeployment." Barakish.net. 7 April 2015 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. http://www.barakish.net/news02.aspx?cat=12&sub=23&id=311773
[36] "Increasing Huthi Hegemony Drives Saleh Crazy." Yemen Press. and "Huthi Conspiracy to Take Control of Republican Guard from Saleh." al-Arabiya. 13 October 2016 (Arabic). Accessed 17 December 2016. https://goo.gl/EuJvkQ
Categories: Yemen's Republican Guard - yemen
Lucas Winter is an analyst on the Middle East for the Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) at Fort Leavenworth, KS. He has an M.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins SAIS and was an Arabic Language Flagship Fellow in Damascus, Syria in 2006-2007. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.


text:
The American Investor Daily
Rick Nartarian
This Jaw-Dropping Interview Shows How the Media Still Struggles With Trump's Lies
Posted By: Investor
George Stephanopoulos interviews Trump national security adviser Robert C. O'Brien.ABC News/YouTube
Every once in a while, a moment comes that crystallizes what is so wrong with the political-media universe in the era of Donald Trump. And one such moment occurred on Sunday morning. It was not flashy or headline-generating. This moment lasted only seconds. Its significance may not have even been noticed by the participants or those who witnessed it. But it deserves attention for showing how Trump and his crew have been able to get away with brazen lying and acts of treachery—and how Trumpian dishonesty has been normalized or, at least, tacitly accepted.
The system is not designed to weed out serial deceivers who hold positions of power and influence—or to consistently sound the alarm on disinformation.
The moment occurred where so many important Washington actions transpire: on one of the Sunday morning news shows. Midway into ABC News' This Week, longtime host George Stephanopoulos welcomed Robert O'Brien, Trump's low-profile national security adviser, to the broadcast. Not surprisingly, O'Brien defended Trump's lethal military strike against Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian general, and hailed Trump's policy regarding Iran. When Stephanopoulos pressed him on Trump's assertion that Soleimani was about to launch attacks against four US embassies before he was killed—which some commentators have argued was a false statement—O'Brien sidestepped the question: "Well, I think the American people are behind this president. He's shown incredible restraint in the face of provocation after provocation from Iran…So he's shown he's—he's modest in his—his dealings with other countries. But when you threaten to kill or to maim Americans, that's something this president won't put up with." He then insisted, "We had very good intelligence." O'Brien noted he would "love" to release it, but he maintained the administration could not make public the information without threatening the flow of similar intelligence.
All of this was the average Washington spin that commonly appears on such shows: The policy was great, we did the right thing, the critics are wrong, and so on. Next, Stephanopoulos turned to a recent Bloomberg article that reported US intelligence and law enforcement officials have been examining whether Russia has been mounting a disinformation campaign to undermine Joe Biden's presidential bid. He asked O'Brien, "Has the president told Vladimir Putin to cut out this election interference in 2016, and will he continue to do that even if it appears the Russians are trying to hurt Joe Biden?"
Here's where O'Brien moved from the zone of spin to pitching an Orwellian anti-reality. He replied, "He's absolutely told Putin to make sure that that doesn't happen. And the idea that the president of the United States would collude with the Russians—I mean, this is a partisan fantasy that's been—the flames which have been fanned for three years now. There's zero truth to it."
Let's break this down. There is no evidence that Trump has sent Putin a clear message: Don't intervene in the next US election. His last call with Putin occurred in late December, and the White House readout of the call contained no reference to any such warning. Moreover, Trump has repeatedly expressed doubt about the US intelligence community's conclusion that Russia attacked the 2016 election, most famously when he was standing next to Putin at a joint press conference in Helsinki in July 2018. In doing so, he has provided cover for Putin. Moreover, the Washington Post reported in September that Trump had told two senior Russian officials, during an Oval Office meeting in May 2017, that he was not concerned about the Russian assault on the 2016 election. (That hardly sounds like a warning.) And the New York Times reported last year that senior government officials could not bring up the issue of Moscow interference with Trump because he believed any discussion of the matter cast doubt on the legitimacy of his electoral victory.
O'Brien was portraying Trump as a normal president handling a national security threat as any president ought to do. But his meant-to-be-reassuring assertion that Trump has confronted Putin on this critical matter is contradicted by the public record. In fact, there have been no signs that Trump, who won't fully acknowledge Putin's 2016 attack, gives a damn about thwarting further Russian interference in US politics. Yet Stephanopoulos did not challenge O'Brien on this point. And you will note that O'Brien quickly tried to change the subject to the topic of collusion. Special counsel Robert Mueller did report that his investigation did not uncover evidence of a direct criminal conspiracy between Trump and the Russians in 2016. But the record is clear: Trump encouraged and exploited the attack, helped Putin cover it up, and, as president, has essentially ignored this assault on the United States. The image of Trump that O'Brien was presenting to millions of viewers was the precise opposite of the truth.
There is a baseline courtesy built into these interactions. And that favors someone who is willing to pervert the truth.
Stephanopoulos did not interrupt O'Brien, and Trump's chief national security aide continued: "There are a bunch of countries that would like to interfere with our elections. There are the Chinese, the Iranians, the Russians. And trust me, most of them would like to see President Trump leave and have a more malleable leader coming after him, where they could go back to the—the status quo before the president came in."
Wait a minute. The Russians attacked the US election in 2016 in part to help Trump. They wanted him—not Hillary Clinton—in the White House. Who says so? The US intelligence community, Mueller's investigation, and the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee. O'Brien was not only conveniently ignoring this basic point. He was turning it upside down. Once again, he had moved from the boundaries of the usual spin to outright black-is-white falsification.
Without slowing down, O'Brien slid into this whopper: "Look, I don't want Russians, or Chinese, or Iranians, or any others interfering with the Trump campaign, with the Biden campaign, with any campaign. And I think the president feels absolutely the same way." Trump doesn't want foreign powers influencing the election? Uh, no. That ain't so. We know this because Trump has said so himself. In public. Three months ago, Trump called on China to investigate Joe Biden. And he said the same regarding Ukraine. (During a 2016 campaign press conference, Trump urged Russian hackers to target Clinton—and, according to Mueller, the Russians immediately tried to do what Trump requested.) Moreover, Trump last summer said that he would accept dirt on a political opponent from a foreign government—and he said that during an interview with Stephanopoulos.
So O'Brien was being extremely disingenuous. Trump has demonstrated he would indeed like to see China and Ukraine take steps to undermine a potential rival of his. He has made it clear to every foreign government in the world that he would be delighted to accept any negative information they might want to share on whoever runs against him. Yet the O'Brien interview did not come to a screeching halt. Instead, O'Brien used this platform to turn the question of Trump's solicitation of foreign interference on its head: "And to suggest [Trump would welcome foreign involvement] is unfair and frankly a bit dangerous. That's the sort of thing that I think the Russians try to foment, you know, and others, is divisions in America. We need to stand together and put—put that sort of language aside for sure." That is, to note that Trump has asked other countries to meddle in the election would, in and of itself, be dangerous for American democracy and helpful to Moscow. This was crazy.
Stephanopoulos did not tell his audience that O'Brien was massacring the truth. But he served up a slice of push-back, referencing Trump's nutty and unfounded claim that Ukraine (not Russia) was involved in the hacking of the Democratic Party's computer servers in 2016. He asked O'Brien, "If the president is repeating conspiracy theories that are consistent with Russian propaganda, isn't that helping the Russian effort?" O'Brien shot back: "I don't see that. We've been very clear on our position with respect to the Russians and that's to stay out of our elections. We've been very clear with the Chinese, and we've been very clear with the Iranians…But trying to use these things for some partisan—sort of partisan advantage is really disappointing." (Once again, Trump directly asked China to become involved in the 2020 race.) And that was it. Stephanopoulos concluded the interview with, "Mr. O'Brien, thanks for your time this morning,"
My aim here is not to pick on Stephanopoulos. In June, he aired a devastating interview with Trump. He is not the bad-faith actor in this scene. The problem here is both the format of the exchange and its sociology. O'Brien was lying his head off—and he was doing so to cover for his boss's own lies and misdeeds. It is undeniable that Trump has signal-boosted Moscow's we-didn't-do-it disinformation about the 2016 attack and has called on other foreign powers to mess with the 2020 election. These are actions that subvert American democracy—arguably profound acts of betrayal. They are Trump's most consequential wrongdoing because they corrupt the most fundamental element of the US political system. Yet the political-media world—too often organized on the idea that there is a clash of competing narratives that deserve equal attention—has not elevated these Trump transgressions to a primary spot in the national conversation. Instead, they are frequently depicted as contentions that exist within a huge roiling ocean of other contentions. Stephanopoulos—faced with the demands of covering the week's news and of keeping the interview to the allotted time slot—was not going to suddenly change all that Sunday morning.
Consequently, when O'Brien misleads the public on all this, it's just another Sunday. Nothing special. Stephanopoulos doesn't read him the riot act. And there are no subsequent, front-page headlines: "Trump's National Security Adviser Misleads Public About President's Role in Russia Scandal," or "Top Trump Aide Falsely Claims Trump Hasn't Asked Foreign Governments to Intervene in 2020." This is not how the machine operates. There is a baseline courtesy built into these interactions. And that favors someone who is willing to pervert the truth. He or she can take advantage of a culture in which it is not possible or not polite to call out every single prevarication. So O'Brien can spout several highly significant lies or misstatements in a short spate of time, and there is no gong. No buzzer goes off. He comes across as a reasonable advocate for his side and the president, even if he is covering up profound misconduct. In other words, he gets away with it. Maybe a fact checker at a news outlet or website will later take a poke at him. But those darts don't seem to sting too much these days.
There are instances when such a culprit does get hammered. In early December, Chuck Todd on Meet the Press took Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) to task for mouthing Trump's nutty conspiracy theory about Ukrainian election interference in 2016. And soon after, Todd noted in a Rolling Stone interview that he had been "naive" to underestimate the extent to which Trump and his Republican defenders would resort to false statements and disinformation.
But the question is, what to do about this disinformation—especially when conventional media, reflecting the values of conventional Washington, has long advanced the notion that both sides (meaning the Ds and the Rs) deserve a hearing. And also especially when the notions of fairness, evenhandedness, and objectivity ingrained within major media organizations cause them to serve as an outlet for each of those sides. O'Brien, the guy in charge of coordinating national security policy for the most powerful man in world, was openly pushing serious disinformation about a most serious matter on This Week. What's the appropriate reaction to that? Shut him down on live television? Refuse to have him back? Should think tanks not invite him to events and discussions? After he leaves office, should he be shunned?
This is a minor episode, but it does raise large questions. It illuminates how Trump and his posse have often been able to escape major consequences for their cynical use of disinformation. The system is not designed to weed out serial deceivers who hold positions of power and influence—or to consistently sound the alarm on disinformation. That is particularly so when it faces a pattern similar to what experts have called the Russian model of propaganda: "the firehose of falsehoods." O'Brien was given the opportunity to spray fast and furiously on Sunday morning; the truth got washed away. And that's the point. Mission accomplished.
Jim Cramer on climate investing: 'It's not the government in charge anymore. It's guys like Fink'
Tesla's Market Share Losses In The U.S. In 2019 Are In Stock Contrast to Its 2020 Stock Price
Enter Your Information Below To Receive Free Trading Ideas, Latest News, And Articles.
Your information is secure and your privacy is protected. By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Opt-out any time, we hate spam!
Copyright 2018 - The American Investor Daily Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Disclaimer Contact Us
The theamericaninvestordaily.com.com is not an investment advisor and is not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Further, owners, employees, agents or representatives of The theamericaninvestordaily.com.com are not acting as investment advisors and might not be registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or the Financial Industry Regulatory.
The sender of this email makes no representations or warranties concerning the products, practices or procedures of any company or entity mentioned or recommended in this email, and makes no representations or warranties concerning said company or entity's compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, regulations promulgated by the SEC or the CFTC. The sender of this email may receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of any products or services offered by a company or entity mentioned or recommended in this email. The recipient of this email assumes responsibility for conducting its own due diligence on the aforementioned company or entity and assumes full responsibility, and releases the sender from liability, for any purchase or order made from any company or entity mentioned or recommended in this email.
The content on any of The theamericaninvestordaily.com.com websites, products or communication is for educational purposes only. Nothing in its products, services, or communications shall be construed as a solicitation and/or recommendation to buy or sell a security. Trading stocks, options and other securities involves risk. The risk of loss in trading securities can be substantial. The risk involved with trading stocks, options and other securities is not suitable for all investors. Prior to buying or selling an option, an investor must evaluate his/her own personal financial situation and consider all relevant risk factors. See: Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options.
The information presented in this site is not intended to be used as the sole basis of any investment decisions, nor should it be construed as advice designed to meet the investment needs of any particular investor. Nothing in our research constitutes legal, accounting or tax advice or individually tailored investment advice. Our research is prepared for general circulation and has been prepared without regard to the individual financial circumstances and objectives of persons who receive or obtain access to it. Our research is based on sources that we believe to be reliable. However, we do not make any representation or warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy of our research, the completeness, or correctness or make any guarantee or other promise as to any results that may be obtained from using our research. To the maximum extent permitted by law, neither we, any of our affiliates, nor any other person, shall have any liability whatsoever to any person for any loss or expense, whether direct, indirect, consequential, incidental or otherwise, arising from or relating in any way to any use of or reliance on our research or the information contained therein. Some discussions contain forward looking statements which are based on current expectations and differences can be expected. All of our research, including the estimates, opinions and information contained therein, reflects our judgment as of the publication or other dissemination date of the research and is subject to change without notice. Further, we expressly disclaim any responsibility to update such research. Investing involves substantial risk. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results, and a loss of original capital may occur. No one receiving or accessing our research should make any investment decision without first consulting his or her own personal financial advisor and conducting his or her own research and due diligence, including carefully reviewing any applicable prospectuses, press releases, reports and other public filings of the issuer of any securities being considered. None of the information presented should be construed as an offer to sell or buy any particular security. As always, use your best judgment when investing.
Disclaimer: Past performance is no guarantee of future performance. This product is for educational purposes only. Practical application of the products herein are at your own risk and The theamericaninvestordaily.com.com, its partners, representatives and employees assume no responsibility or liability for any use or mis-use of the product. Please contact your financial advisor for specific financial advice tailored to your personal circumstances. Any trades shown are hypothetical example and do not represent actual trades. Actual results may differ. Nothing here in constitutes a recommendation respecting the particular security illustrated.
Copyright © 2020 The American Investor Daily -


At illuminate Salon, we exclusively use Nufree Beauty, which is the safest and most effective hair removal product. Nufree is not based on beeswax but rather botanicals, including soy. This product will not stick to your skin and is antibacterial/antimicrobial so it is safe, clean and germ free.