Comments on: Update: AAA response to NSF-Minerva partnership

By: More Minerva News and Discussion « OPEN ANTHROPOLOGY

More Minerva News and Discussion « OPEN ANTHROPOLOGY — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:31:47 +0000

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By: Costa

Costa — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:13:05 +0000

Of everything I read about the Minerva project, this is what concerns me the most:

“The University becomes an instrument rather than a critic of war-making, and spaces for critical discussion of militarism within the university shrink.” (Statement of network of concerned anth)

I always envisoned that universitites would produce independent research, without the bias or agendas of their funders. The Minerva project to me is a sign, of what is to come: a guide to what is important reaserch, at least deemed important. As research becomes funding driven we lose the crucial critical discussion “power”. Sure the research is not classified, but I assume, that if you want to continue to receive funding from the government agencies, to continue research the analyses will be somewhat favourable not critical. And only in the retirment memoirs, will the true discussion begin.

By: llwynn

llwynn — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:36:57 +0000

Thanks Donna and Steve. Steve, any source you can point me to for figures on money spent on HTS?

By: Donna

Donna — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:02:49 +0000

I just finally got around to reading this as it is a subject that interests me greatly. I spoke with my husband who is in the military and he is not familiar with AFRACOM. He did say that there is a fairly new command arena know as AFRICOM (African Command- Like SOCOM-Southern Operations Command) which is about three years old.

By: steve

steve — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:18:53 +0000

AFRICOM (not afr_A_com) is the DoD’s new combatant command for the continent of Africa, excluding Egypt. Up to now, the DoD has dealt with Africa through three different commands that are responsible for three different parts of the world, including the European Command and the Pacific Command. This is the first command dedicated solely to Africa. It’s also supposed to be a new style of command that consults with civilians on the State Department side.

And $40 is an old budget figure for the HTS program. It’s actually well over $100 million now.

By: llwynn

llwynn — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:28:49 +0000

Thanks for clarifying, Lemia. Yes, I think $40 million is an old figure but I’m not really sure where to get up to date figures for what’s being spent on HTS. What’s AFRACOM?

By: Lemia

Lemia — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:21:50 +0000

You state that the HTS program is worth $40 million, but I do believe it is up to $200 million now. At least, this is the buzz at Ft. Leavenworth … although I did hear that they overspent their budget a couple months ago. They are now pushing their way into AFRACOM – a nifty way to secure more money for the trough.