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The World Factbook, produced annually by the CIA, has become the
ultimate, authoritative source of information on all the nations of
the world. It provides current data for more than 250 countries and
territories, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Potomac Books publishes
a commercial version of The World Factbook in order to extend the
limited audience reached by the CIA's own publication. This current
Potomac Books edition is identified by the year 2010, following the
pattern used in our other annual publications, since the CIA
completed its volume late the preceding year. Topics addressed
include the political climate, natural resources, environment,
population, ethnic groups, GDP, agriculture, industries, defense
expenditures, literacy rate, religion, legal system, and much more.
Key data are grouped under the headings of geography, people,
government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and
transnational issues. The World Factbook also contains maps of each
country and of key territories. In addition, readers will find
handy appendixes on international organizations and groups,
international environmental agreements, and a cross-referenced list
of geographic names. The World Factbook is a must for curious
individuals concerned about a rapidly changing world.
The ultimate, comprehensive guide to official country data and
statistics, from the world's most sophisticated
intelligence-gathering organization. From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe,
The CIA World Factbook 2022-2023 offers complete and up-to-date
information on the world's nations. This comprehensive guide is
packed with data on countries' politics, populations, economics,
and environment for 2022 and looks ahead to 2023. The CIA World
Factbook 2022-2023 includes the following for each country:
Geopolitical maps Population statistics, with details on languages,
religions, literacy rates, age structure, HIV prevalence, and much
more Up-to-date data on military expenditures and capabilities
Geography information, including climate and natural hazards
Details on prominent political figures and parties Contact
information for diplomatic missions Facts on transportation, trade,
and communication infrastructure Also included are appendices with
useful abbreviations, international environmental agreements,
international organizations and groups, terror organizations, and
more. Originally intended for use by government officials and
policymakers as well as the broader intelligence community, this is
a must-have resource for students, travelers, journalists, and
anyone with a desire to know more about their world.
While the Committee of Secret Correspondence was meeting secretly
in Philadelphia with agents of France, Arthur Lee was meeting in
London with Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, the successful
author of The Barber of Seville (and later The Marriage of
Figaro)-who was a French agent. Lee's inflated reports of patriot
strength, which either he fabricated for Beaumarchais' benefit or
were provided by Lee's regular correspondent, Sam Adams, won the
Frenchman to the American cause. Beaumarchais repeatedly urged the
French Court to give immediate assistance to the Americans, and on
February 29, 1776 addressed a memorial to Louis XVI quoting Lee's
offer of a secret long-term treaty of commerce in exchange for
secret aid to the war of independence. Beaumarchais explained that
France could grant such aid without compromising itself, but urged
that "success of the plan depends wholly upon rapidity as well as
secrecy: Your Majesty knows better than any one that secrecy is the
soul of business, and that in politics a project once disclosed is
a project doomed to failure." With the memorial, Beaumarchais
submitted a plan proposing that he set up a commercial trading firm
as a cover for the secret French aid; he requested and was granted
one million livres to establish a firm to be known as Roderigue
Hortalez et Cie for that purpose. Beaumarchais' memorial was
followed by one of March 12, 1776, by the French Minister of
Foreign Affairs, the Comte de Vergennes. Royal assent was granted,
and by the time Silas Deane arrived in Paris, French aid was on its
way to the patriots. Deane expanded the Franco-American
relationship, working with Beaumarchais and other French merchants
to procure ships, commission privateers, recruit French officers,
and purchase French military supplies declared "surplus" for that
purpose. On September 26, 1776, the Continental Congress elected
three commissioners to the Court of France, Benjamin Franklin,
Thomas Jefferson and Silas Deane, resolving that "secrecy shall be
observed until further Order of Congress; and that until permission
be obtained from Congress to disclose the particulars of this
business, no member be permitted to say anything more upon this
subject, than that Congress have taken such steps as they judged
necessary for the purpose of obtaining foreign alliance." Because
of his wife's illness, Jefferson could not serve, and Arthur Lee
was appointed in his stead. With Franklin's arrival in France on
November 29, 1776-the first anniversary of the founding of the
Committee of Secret Correspondence-the vital French mission became
an intelligence and propaganda center for Europe, an unofficial
diplomatic representation, a coordinating facility for aid from
America's secret allies, and a recruiting station for such French
officers as Lafayette and Kalb. In October 1777 the Continental
Army won a crucial victory over the British at Saratoga, and on
February 6, 1778, the French-American treaty of alliance was
signed. On March 30, 1778, Franklin, Lee, and Deane were received
at the French Court as representatives of the United States of
America, and on July 7 of that year Comte d'Estaing's French fleet
cast anchor in the Delaware River. France was in the war; the
mission to Paris had succeeded. Spain, at the urging of French
Foreign Minister Vergennes, matched France's one million livres for
the operation of Hortalez et Cie. But that was not the beginning of
secret Spanish aid to the Patriots. During the summer of 1776 Luis
de Unzaga y Amezaga, the governor of New Spain at New Orleans, had
privately delivered some ten thousand pounds of gunpowder, out of
the King's stores, to Captain George Gibson and Lieutenant Linn of
the Virginia Council of Defense. The gunpowder, moved up the
Mississippi under the protection of the Spanish flag, made it
possible to thwart British plans to capture Fort Pitt.
Did you ever lose your keys? Lock picking is the skill of unlocking
a lock by analyzing and manipulating the components of the lock
device, without the original key. Although lock picking can be
associated with criminal intent, it is an essential skill for a
locksmith. Lock picking is the ideal way of opening a lock without
the correct key, while not damaging the lock, allowing it to be
rekeyed for later use, which is especially important with antique
locks that would be impossible to replace if destructive entry
methods were used.
Released by the Freedom of Information Act. This document is a
thorough description of how the CIA recommends interrogating a
subject. To get the information that is needed there is nothing
withheld short of torture. For example in "Threats and Fears," the
CIA authors note that "the threat of coercion usually weakens or
destroys resistance more effectively than coercion itself. The
threat to inflict pain, for example, can trigger fears more
damaging than the immediate sensation of pain." Under the
subheading "Pain," the guidelines discuss the theories behind
various thresholds of pain, and recommend that a subject's
"resistance is likelier to be sapped by pain which he seems to
inflict upon himself" such rather than by direct torture. The
report suggests forcing the detainee to stand at attention for long
periods of time. A section on sensory deprivations suggests
imprisoning detainees in rooms without sensory stimuli of any kind,
"in a cell which has no light," for example.
Released by the Freedom of Information Act. This document is a
thorough description of how the CIA recommends interrogating a
subject. To get the information that is needed there is nothing
withheld short of torture. For example in "Threats and Fears," the
CIA authors note that "the threat of coercion usually weakens or
destroys resistance more effectively than coercion itself. The
threat to inflict pain, for example, can trigger fears more
damaging than the immediate sensation of pain." Under the
subheading "Pain," the guidelines discuss the theories behind
various thresholds of pain, and recommend that a subject's
"resistance is likelier to be sapped by pain which he seems to
inflict upon himself" such rather than by direct torture. The
report suggests forcing the detainee to stand at attention for long
periods of time. A section on sensory deprivations suggests
imprisoning detainees in rooms without sensory stimuli of any kind,
"in a cell which has no light," for example.
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