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Wednesday, July 07, 2004 |
 Russia Journal. Downstream financial consequences of the Yukos debacle. Transneft will continue pipeline transport until the end of July (it is paid up until then). After that, it will stop. Volgotanker, 50% of their oil business is from Yukos, will have a tougher time of it. 400,000 barrels of oil a day is shipped via rail and river transport by Yukos. Meanwhile, disruptions to Iraqi oil exports is giving tanker owners pause. They have wasted weeks of valuable tanker time waiting for the resumption of Iraqi exports over the past month.
12:59:26 PM 
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Gamespot. "Perimeter." A sci-fi real-time strategy game, from a Russian developer, that seems to be a primer on network warfare. Competitive infrastructures and disruptive attacks. Looks like fun.
Another interesting game is "Mercenaries" from Lucas Arts. Reputation system that is driven by an embedded journalist that records player actions, which determines how civilians and the various warring factions respond to the player. Based on the US military’s system of identifying a “most wanted” list of enemy targets in a playing card deck, players will use the playing card metaphor to identify missions and enemy targets. Take on missions from the different factions in order to gain intelligence and get new playing cards/targets and access to new areas.
9:51:06 AM
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This is good news. Nigerian authorities arrested 500 e-mail scammers and seized $500 m of their assets.
9:06:28 AM
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BBC. Nigerian union shuts down oil production from oil giant Total. More fear in the oil markets. Total, which had been forced to stop output last Friday, ceased it again on Tuesday after a union dispute over staff supervision.
9:03:38 AM
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Fortune. This report underscores the possibility that al Qaeda is much more popular in Saudi Arabia than commonly understood:
But it's not just al Qaeda that has workers on edge: Those who've recently returned to the States tell of unprecedented harassment by ordinary Saudis. Objects thrown at cars, Saudis pointing fingers out of car windows to imitate a pistol, and obscenities shouted at foreigners with no provocation are just some of the reported incidents.
8:51:07 AM
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One thing missed by the political pundits. Edwards was genuinely liked in the primaries. His negatives were almost non-existant. Go back and have a look at the sentiment numbers. It is going to cost the Republicans lots of money to tar this man with high negatives. Further, trial lawyers will line up at the door to pour money into the Dem's coffers with one of their own on the ticket. Economically, this is a disaster for the Republican campaign.
8:43:06 AM
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© Copyright 2004 John Robb.
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