Saturday, June 19, 2004

New Post to Global Guerrillas  Scenario: The Disruption of Saudi Arabia.  Descriptive scenarios provide a way to visualize the impact of innovations.  In this case, I created a description of what would happen in Saudi Arabia when an early version of global guerrilla strategies are applied. 7:55:02 PM    Comment_ Trackback []

Global Guerrillas in southwest Pakistan.  Attack on paramilitary forces guarding a gas pipeline and an attack on a well. 6:45:33 PM    Comment_ Trackback []

Virginia has Friedman's data on how Reagan (and to an extent Clinton, in contrast to the Bushes who increased spending) slowed non-defense spending.  Now we need someone to do this with defense spending.  We are spending way too much on security and getting much too little in return. 12:58:20 PM    Comment_ Trackback []

US tries out a Russian tactic against terrorism:  take down an apartment building in the hope of killing terrorist leadership.  If they did get Zarqawi, it would be a trifecta.  Three major terrorist leaders killed in 24 hours:  al-Muqrin (see picture and compare), al-Zarqawi, and Nek Mohammed (a Pakistani tribal leader charged with protecting al Qaeda cells in the country).  Of course, as we know, networked-organizations like al Qaeda are extremely resiliant to ad-hoc leadership removal.  Net-net:  A couple of entrepreneurs down.  Thousands more are right behind them. 11:26:29 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

WP.  Long article on the CPA's failure to accomplish its goals in Iraq over the last year. 11:16:34 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

NYT.  Not so secret sewage treatment project in Baghdad (hiding from global guerrillas): The development agency and Bechtel said the breakthrough occurred in a dangerous part of Baghdad where any publicity could make the project a target for saboteurs. That argument, and the bizarre concept of a secret sewage project, has generated frustration among some of the engineers, who say that secrecy defeats the original purpose of the work. This is the first sewage treatment in Baghdad in 15 years but "we can't get the word out," said one U.S. government engineer on the project. To the suggestion that publicity could lead to bombings and the like, the engineer said: "Well, guess what. We're getting bombed anyway." 8:55:13 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

Schizophrenic messages.  Powell urges American's to stay in Saudi Arabia: "If they leave, then the terrorists have won," Powell said in the interview shortly after news of Johnson's death in Riyadh. While at the same time, the State Department strongly urges all Americans to leave immediately.  Another example of internal dissonance due to US psychological isolation. 8:12:21 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

The Economist does the best job I have seen analyzing the Whitehouse thinking on presidential powers during wartime.  This comes near saying that the president is above the law when acting as commander-in-chief in wartime. No other president has made such a claim. 8:04:20 AM    Comment_ Trackback []

Wired.  DoD asks for domestic spying privileges.  The DoD is working hard on a building capabilities that replicate many of the functions of the FBI and CIA (without much of the oversight).   7:44:10 AM    Comment_ Trackback []