Oh, It Doesn't Show Signs of Stopping ...

You are aware, no doubt, that the blogging multitudes surrounding our nation's capitol have been transformed into a collection of wonksicles by back-to-back blizzardy mayhem, so I'll withhold my personal gripes this week and cast my gaze somewhere hotter, namely Iran.

In a recent Slate article, Jason Rezaian questions the accuracy of "Iran experts" stationed beyond the nation's borders:

There is a growing schism between people battling for change inside Iran and those based outside the country. Individuals and groups operating outside Iran's borders hold little sway with the domestic protesters. A 25-year-old graduate student and office worker in Tehran told me, "I think most of those who have left forget about those of us here very quickly. I can't think of one person speaking on behalf of Iran who I believe is out for anything besides their own gain."

Nevertheless, she expressed a strong belief in the validity of the protest movement. "We exist. We're not sure what we are yet, but we're struggling to find out. And we keep growing in numbers. Ultimately, though, it's up to us who are here. We wish the world would respect that and just encourage us."

Rezaian's article underscores an important truth for foreign policy: An incomplete understanding of a foreign nation's populace is a surefire way to derail any soft power initiative -- but understanding a movement before it understands itself is entirely impossible. For a nation like the United States (among whose virtues, patience rarely tops the list) it is essential that this point be recognized. After all, firm intelligence includes not only what we know, but what we don't know. As the saying goes, it's not what we don't know that gets us into trouble, but what we know for sure that just ain't so.

News Bits

Alone in the darkness beneath layers of rubble, Dan Woolley felt blood streaming from his head and leg.

Then he remembered -- he had an app for that.

Congrats to CNN's Josh Levs for one of the more captivating ledes I've seen this week. Trapped Father Survives with Help of Phone App demonstrates some practical applications for mobile technology in a nation whose communication infrastructure has been severely limited.

And evidently nobody has explained to Slate's Ron Rosenbaum that satire loses most of its bite when you deliberately label it. In his latest article, he very nearly undermines his point by tossing the word about with a degree of literary carelessness unseen since Alanis Morissette's Ironic. Nonetheless, his "modest proposal" for improving U.S. intelligence efforts

... fire the entire CIA and our other many tragically inept intelligence agencies and outsource all intelligence operations to investigative reporters downsized by the collapse of the newspaper business. Thereby improving our "intelligence capability" (it can't possibly get worse!) and giving a paycheck to some worthy and skilled investigative types ... reporters who once made the journalism profession proud, exciting, and useful ...

deserves some consideration, if only for his bold vision of a brave new world in which TMZ monitors Taliban fashion faux pas and Page 6 starts running photos of prominent ji-hotties.

Finally, the Catholic church has never quite reclaimed the communication monopoly it enjoyed before the printing press came along, but that doesn't mean it's stuck in the dark ages! As Randy Sly reports in Catholic Online, Pope Benedict is encouraging priests to increase their online engagement. It's only a matter of time before @JC4evaaaah! is regaling the masses with such inspirational tweets as "help! 4got wine 4 vsprs! nearest lqr stor?"

Sorry, Father. There's not an app for that.