[governance] ICANN staff member and Stratfor

Mon Mar 5 16:09:48 EST 2012

A number of feelings and questions arise about these kinds of incidents 
(more exploratory than anything else):

Is this just a case of a few bad apples, ala phone tapping under Bush, 
Abu Ghraib war-porn, etc?

While I do not agree with all of Zizek, what he said on Wikileaks in 
general is, it is not like we did not know, but now we can no longer 
pretend. Or not. As Hegel said, civil society is an ugly place.

Perhaps one cannot help feeling rather naive in participating in civil 
society processes (maybe this makes for true and necessary idealism). 
Especially when there is such an intimate association between certain 
government & corporation interests duly reflected in civil society as 
well. While other important public interest voices are (by and large) 
kept at a low intensity democracy distance like Alfonso, Parminder, 
Gurstein or Auerbach etc (not uninfluential, but merely my estimate in 
terms of outcomes).

Other concerns then do arise about civil society players who made common 
cause with such views. Discerning who is what is quite difficult as 
there are many many well meaning individuals and organisations who 
recognise the threats and seek to limit the egregious excesses of the 
system and need to maintain "credibility" for their reform efforts.

This is an ugly business indeed and it is great that many in this 
community seen it for what it is.

On 2012/03/05 10:00 PM, Milton L Mueller wrote:
>
> Veni contacted Stratfor, that much is clear. (See initial email text 
> below) "Potential for future cooperation" is typical consultant-speak 
> for some kind of a deal.
>
> It is a good example of how certain people participate in ICANN: as a 
> channel for networking to advance their own personal power and income.
>
> We should never be naïve enough to think that those kind of people 
> don't play a major role in open institutions (or closed ones, for that 
> matter).
>
> --MM
>
> From: Veni Markovski [mailto:veni at veni.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 8:39 AM
> To: Fred Burton
> Subject: Re: Hi
>
> Hi.
> I saw Strafor's George Fridman being quoted in the New York Times on the
> situation in Georgia, and that triggered my interest, as I have a lot of
> contacts on different levels in Russia/CIS/Black Sea region.
> I would be thankful if you could point me to someone at Stratfor, who is
> dealing with the region, so that we can exchange some information, and see
> if there might be potential for some future cooperation.
>
> Would it be possible to talk to someone over the phone? My phone is
> 646-873-7708
>
> Thanks.
>
> *From:*governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org 
> [mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] *On Behalf Of 
> *Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro
> *Sent:* Saturday, March 03, 2012 1:18 PM
> *To:* governance at lists.igcaucus.org; Petko Kolev
> *Cc:* Paul Lehto; McTim
> *Subject:* Re: [governance] ICANN staff member and Stratfor
>
> But is that enough to insinuate that the leak came from him? Could 
>  someone have hacked into his mailbox or sent the email from his 
> government mailing address with the intention of destroying his 
> reputation?
>
> Would a reasonable person intending to send information do so from a 
> public address which is subject to internal scrutiny and mechanisms?
>
> Assuming that there was a deliberate move to destroy Veni, what I am 
> interested in is what is the reason behind targeting Veni and what is 
> the "unseen play" that "someone" does'nt want us to "see".
>
> Hmmmm
>
> On Sun, Mar 4, 2012 at 5:32 AM, Petko Kolev <petko.kolev49 at gmail.com 
> <mailto:petko.kolev49 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Here is an English translation of the original article:
> http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=137218
>
> People in Bulgaria doesn`t seem to care about how Statfor describes
> Veni (imo, its ludicrous, yes), but care about what he might have done
> during his affiliation with the "private CIA", because in the same
> time he was an adviser to the Bulgarian president and to the minister
> of IT. For example, he contacted Statfor from a governmental mailbox.
> (http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/558496_email-of-fred-burton-.html)
>
> Cheers,
> Petko
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 7:04 PM, Paul Lehto <lehto.paul at gmail.com 
> <mailto:lehto.paul at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> > Unless the authenticity of the Stratfor documents is attacked (and 
> I'm not
> > aware that it is being attacked) then no matter how "ludicrous" it 
> is, or
> > appears to be, it nevertheless reveals the processes of the Stratfor
> > organization that seems to style itself as a private CIA, 
> specifically as
> > these processes touch upon internet governance, even including 
> discussion of
> > Veni (a member of this list for many years).
> >
> > Whether it's ludicrous or not, it's relevant to what's happening, and
> > reveals the (messed up) ways Stratfor thinks about internet 
> governance and
> > then presumably advises its high profile client list accordingly.   
> These
> > clients are paying Stratfor good money for advice about internet 
> governance
> > and other issues.
> >
> > Just think, Stratfor could have made more money and assembled better 
> advice
> > about internet governance by cutting and pasting from this listserv.  :)
> >
> > Paul Lehto, J.D.
> >
> > On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 1:18 AM, McTim <dogwallah at gmail.com 
> <mailto:dogwallah at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>
> >> On 3/2/12, Petko Kolev <petko.kolev49 at gmail.com 
> <mailto:petko.kolev49 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >> > Might be interesting -
> >> >
> >> > 
> http://domainincite.com/icann-staffer-linked-to-hacked-intelligence-firm/
> >>
> >> Might be, if it wasn't ludicrous...Veni was a member of this list for
> >> many years, not a likely activity for a “Bulgarian billionaire
> >> telecommunications oligarch”.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Cheers,
> >>
> >> McTim
> >> "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
> >> route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
> >>
> >>
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Paul R Lehto, J.D.
> > P.O. Box 1
> > Ishpeming, MI  49849
> > lehto.paul at gmail.com <mailto:lehto.paul at gmail.com>
> > 906-204-4026 (cell)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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>
> -- 
>
> Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala
>
> Tweeter: @SalanietaT
>
> Skype:Salanieta.Tamanikaiwaimaro
>
> Cell: +679 998 2851
>
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