Peripheral Milit_Urb 4

MILITARY URBANISM

Monumental Security - On the newly redesigned Washington Monument grounds. Also see Pruned's earlier coverage.
Mysterious 'Forcefield' Tested on US Tanks
NASA to crash space probe into moon (WMMNA)
Vicksburg Harbor Project (Pruned)
A follow up on Pizza billionaire's Catholic haven
Memorial to Security: Gov. George E. Pataki's senior adviser for counterterrorism has concluded that the design for the memorial at ground zero leaves it vulnerable to a terrorist attack and has called on the architects to consider revising several critical aspects.
U.S. Army fights Iraqi 'insurgents' in Calif. desert: Fort Irwin is home to the U.S. Army's National Training Centre, covering almost 1,200 square miles (3,108 square km) in the Mojave Desert. The base serves as the last stop for tens of thousands of U.S. troops before they ship out to Iraq
In Iraq, a zone of hedonism and safety: In a city ever more constricted by religious fundamentalism and terror, the Hunting Club, and its older cousin, the Alwiya, have become islands of relative safety and hedonism. They are protected not only by high walls and guards but also by the selectivity of their membership lists, strictly vetted to keep out anyone who might be a threat.
Military factory now SoHo in Beijing: HALF a century ago it was a workshop churning out bullets and guns in the Chinese capital city. Now it has turned itself into an international community housing galleries, salons, art shops and cafes and it is even called a Chinese type of New York's SoHo.
A landscape that speaks of slaughter: The city, transformed from Ypres to its Flemish name of Ieper - a pleasant place with quiet, narrow streets behind the remains of Vauban's 17th-century fortifications - lives in a landscape scarred by centuries of conflict.
Azerbaijan: Famous Medieval Cemetery Vanishes: It has become one of the most bitterly divisive issues in the Caucasus – but up until now no one has been able to clear up the mystery surrounding the fate of the famous medieval Christian cemetery of Jugha in Azerbaijan.
Developer Tries to Lure Tenants to Crystal City: When the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, one of the largest tenants in Crystal City, decided to pull out and build its new headquarters in Alexandria, it left a large chunk of space that its landlord had to fill.
Rumsfeld OKs ambitious plan to fight terror, Strategy envisions big role for military, special forces units: Details of the plans are secret, but in general they envision a significantly expanded role for the military -- and in particular a growing force of elite Special Operations troops -- in continuous operations to combat terrorism outside of war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Developed over about three years by the Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, in Tampa, Fla., they reflect intensified Pentagon involvement in domains traditionally handled by the Central Intelligence Agency and State Department.
Worldwide Terror Attacks Exceed 10,000
U.S. in Iraq: Returning to the Scene of the Crime By Noam Chomsky: The American occupation in the context of war crimes
Militias roil Baghdad streets | US allies are behind the death squads and ethnic cleansing: Iraq's American overlords at last seem to have grasped the danger posed by their friends' militias. But it may be too late, says Jonathan Steele in Baghdad.
The Sunset of U.S. Empire Building:The Rise of a New Latin America by Michael Hogan: A century and a half of interventions, costly miscalculations, even outright invasions, did not do much to push Latin America away from its sometimes passive-aggressive, sometimes envious, but always dependent relationship with the United States. It took the generalized failure of neo-liberalism, coupled with four years of U.S. indifference to the region following the events of 9/11 and the unilateral megalomania of pre-emptive war, for Latin Americans to decide it was time to determine their own destiny.
Buried Truths: Debunking the nuclear “bunker buster”: Since the Cold War, the U.S defense community has become obsessed with the problem of bunkers and how to destroy them. The solution put forward has, of course, been expensive new weaponry. Soon after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bush Administration made a push for new nuclear programs, the most conspicuous of which was the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP), designed to destroy deeply buried bunkers.
Iraq war the ideal Pentagon test track: In the testing laboratory that is the war in Iraq, an array of remarkable devices and technologies are making their debut in the real world of combat.
US businessman pleads guilty in Iraq corruption case
Shiite exodus from mixed towns: Thousands of Iraqis have fled their homes as a result of rising sectarian violence.
A Shopper’s Guide to Urban Catastrophe (BLDGBLOG)
Hurling Taj Mahals into the Sky (BLDGBLOG)

The Helicopter Archipelago (BLDGBLOG): For those of us trapped in a cultural desert, Archigram had another solution: the Instant City, flown in by hot-air balloon and helicopter and deposited anywhere in the world. The roofs, domes and canopies of a new metropolis could earn an official post-code in the blink of an eye.
There is no reason, however, to limit those helicopters to a role as mere delivery vehicles. The helicopters themselves could be liberated to form their own city – an airborne utopia, endlessly aloft, wandering through the planetary atmosphere. A helitopia, perhaps.
They could form, in other words, a helicopter archipelago, or flying island-chain, a brand new player in the sphere of geopolitics.



SURVEILLANCE

Faces in a crowd offer alternative to passwords
CCTV to spot individuals carrying concealed firearms (WMMNA)
Surveillance as Prozac: Cameras make people feel better. And all over the US, cities are watching over their citizens to help them feel more confident and assured.
NYPD Deploys First of 500 Security Cameras
Protest Banners in Shadow of Future CCTV Skyscraper
MSFT, YHOO to build data centers near NSA's in WA?
New Detectors Sniff Terrorists' Scents
Photographing Architecture is Not a Crime, Thomas Hawk vs. Building Security Episode 118
Watching the Detectives: The NYPD wants to take your picture—but beware of turning your lens on the cops
Follow up on Super Bowl Surveillance (earlier)
Disappeared in America / The VISIBLE Collective (Critical Spatial Practice)