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Monday, September 17, 2001 |
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AP. WTO membership open for China. There is too much of reliance on the US as the worlds only fully open consumer economy (Europe is too protectionist and Japan too export driven to qualify). The ability of China to act as a second consumer market of last resort, will allow the world's economy to zoom forward. When the US falters, China would pick up the slack, and vice versa. That means that recessions will be shallow and short. Great.
8:37:50 PM 
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CNN. FAA says flights are at 2/3s normal levels -- without flights to New York or Washington! We will be back to 100% by the end of the year. That plus billions of $$ in financial aid from the gov't make the airlines stocks great investments.
7:55:45 PM
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The Jerusalem Foundation. Haven't heard of it yet? You will.....
Feb 2001. The Middle East's most violent terrorists have agreed to a frightening megamerger in which they will pool resources to fight their common enemies: the United States and Israel.
This is the brainchild of bin Laden and another reason to get him as soon as possible. Not in the article: the foundation vowed to spread attacks to the US.
Bin Laden runs the Al Qaeda like a business. Perhaps he is a model for the anti-dotcom Thermidorian reaction: to change the world to a simpler place via violence.
6:16:42 PM
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WS&T. CIO's expect tech spending to rebound in mid-2002.
"Vendors that can attack the total cost of ownership issue in coming years will be best positioned."
5:40:46 PM
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Someone is going to write a book about the man who declared war on the world and almost won ( I hope the almost part holds).
4:57:25 PM
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Why rush to root out bin Laden? He is unique. An unusual combination of money, religious fanaticism, geographical location, access to willing recruits, training, and past success make him more powerful than any other terrorist. What makes him unique as a terrorist is that he is not controlled by any nation. Nobody pulls his strings. He is nation unto himself.
The Taliban is merely a loose collection of tribes that preside over a country (Afghanistan is not nation) in chaos. Bin Laden's assasination of the opposition leader Massood last week proved that he was in charge of the country, even without official title. Oppose him and die was the message.
As a nation of one, he has declared war on the world. We can't let him continue. He is the first individual to have declared war on the world without a nation behind him. We can't let him win or the next time an individual declares war, it will be with biologicals or worse.
4:21:05 PM
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Dow down nearly 700 points.
Airlines particularly badly hit. This is starting to become a unique buying opportunity. Is American Airlines worth 40% less today than last week? Sentiment can return in a very short period of time. Of course, the next two quarters will suck, but a year from now, we can expect traffic levels nearly where they were at a week ago. Is a 40% return in a year a good enough reason to buy -- you betcha!
3:41:24 PM
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Stallman. Thousands dead, millions deprived of civil liberties.
"What I am worried about is massive surveillance of all aspects of life: of our phone calls, of our email, and of our physical movements."
I agree. We don't need to attack civil liberties to make us safe. We shut down terrorism in 1992 during the Gulf War through an aggressive external policy. We and our allies put a lot of pressure on terrorists before they could mount an attack on our cities. That is a much more effective method than installing more Carnivore boxes at ISPs.
10:27:16 AM
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One of the most amazing things is how quick the stock exchange has been rebuilt. 4 days.
10:18:12 AM
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CBS News. Fed cuts rates by 1/2 %. Banks follow by immediately cutting the prime rate by 1/2% (that is great!).
9:57:54 AM
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MSN. Does this attack mean an economic tailspin? "History supports the optimists." Of course, the market may not believe this. Airline stocks down over 40%, the dow down over 500 points.
9:28:53 AM
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Two people from my town of Acton died Tuesday on AA 11. Philip Rosenzweig and Amy Sweeney. Phil was an engineer at Sun. Amy was one of the flight attendants. Like most of the small towns that dot the area around Boston, we lost a couple of neighbors.
7:04:47 AM
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A little Kipling to start the day:
"When you lie wounded on the Afghan plain, and Indian women come to pick your remains, just roll on your rifle and blow out your brains, and go to your God like a soldier." Let's remember that many countries have been chewed up in Afghanistan. I read an account of the retreat from Kabul by British forces in the 1800's last month. It was horrible. Even Alexander the great had problems there until he developed tactics that allowed him to defeat Parthian bowmen -- and he was a military genius (something I doubt we have at our disposal).
6:28:07 AM
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© Copyright 2004 John Robb.
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