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Friday, March 19, 2004 |
 Cryptome: TSA plans to conduct a pilot technology program in 2004, in a limited number of airports, to test and evaluate the merits of the Registered Traveler (RT) concept. This pilot program (RT Pilot) is designed to positively identify qualified, known travelers via advanced identification technologies for the purposes of expediting those passengers' travel experience at the airport security checkpoints and thereby enabling TSA to improve the allocation of its limited security resources.
11:53:10 AM 
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WSJ: Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and his vice president were shot and wounded Friday in an apparent assassination attempt on the final day of campaigning for a landmark election and referendum that could be a turning point in Taiwan's tense relationship with China. It is clearly another attempt to subvert democracy.
8:28:58 AM
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AT. Al Qaeda and the Taliban have a plan: pit the Pakistani military against violent local tribes in some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world. "Mountain Storm" is running into problems:
The insurgents' plan, too, has been put into effect, and the fierce fighting in Pakistan's tribal agency of South Waziristan last Tuesday, when resistance fighters and their tribal sympathizers took on the Pakistani military and routed it, was an early manifestation.
More:
Meanwhile, the present situation has wreaked havoc on the US's proxy network in the area, which was established with painstakingly thorough efforts. There are some tribes in South Waziristan which are anti-Taliban. The US cultivated them and they became the coalition's main human resource in the area, as they used to spy on the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and their proteges. The present operation, however, has caught all of these anti-Taliban forces on the back foot. The tribal lashkar (tribal army) that was established with the support of the Pakistani administration in South Waziristan to fight insurgent tribals, Taliban and al-Qaeda, was besieged in Tuesday's fighting. Six hundred lashkar troops were taken hostage and only freed after they laid down their weapons and vowed not to cooperate with the government of Pakistan. Culturally speaking, this situation highlights the values of tribal society. Once a commitment or apology is made, a person must always keep his word or leave his native village forever.
After Tuesday's chaos, it is likely that pro-Taliban forces will now rule over affairs in the tribal areas. The pro-US forces - on whom a lot of money was spent to buy their loyalty - have now vanished..
More:
Pakistan's political agent in South Waziristan called a meeting to which all tribal elders were invited, to ease the tension. However, on the directive of US officials present, the tribal leaders were arrested - and the door to dialogue slammed shut.
8:09:44 AM
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US files a complaint against China for WTO violations. Now this is something that we can export: legal hassles. Unleash the lawyers! We should have hundreds of WTO filings against China in the works. One way to make this happen: create a method by which private law firms can create a WTO case and share in the fines levied (or a lump sum payment based on a portion of the savings for US companies for successful efforts where no fines are extracted). There are probably lots of methods that can make legalism a top US export.
7:56:57 AM
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BBC. The Colombian secret police, the DAS, have arrested a guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) who had allegedly been setting up a cell of suicide bombers.
7:34:23 AM
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The Kaiser Family Foundation:
A survey of California employers released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) shows that premiums for employer sponsored health insurance increased 15.8% in 2003, higher than the national average increase of 13.9% and nearly seven times the rate of inflation.
Related article: Smaller firms have seen premium spikes of 40% to as high as 60% this year alone. "If you're a small business and you get less than a 40% rate increase today, you're doing pretty good," said Rob Wilson, president and co-founder of Chicago-based EmployCo, a human resources and back-office tasks outsourcing firm.
At this rate of increase, can anyone seriously expect US company's to compete globally? No. The US health system is seriously broken and it is severely impacting our competitiveness.
7:21:56 AM
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Here's an interesting question: Is it possible to be a neutral country in the GWOT (global war on terror)? Is Finlandization, in response to terrorist pressure, an option? If so, which nations are following this policy?
7:07:45 AM
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© Copyright 2004 John Robb.
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