|
 |
Wednesday, December 08, 2004 |
 Samarra. Guerrillas looted an armory at a police station and then blew it up. This shows the difficult position the US in re: Iraqi forces. They need to be armed with the right weapons in order to defend themselves (which would boost morale). However, we won't give them the weapons they need because we are worried they will end up in the hands of the guerrillas.
3:58:10 PM 
|
|
Dann does a redux of my 1996 research report (which was the "idea of the year" report at Forrester Research and the topic of their 1996 conference) called Personal Broadcast Networks. It was years ahead of P2P networks, RSS, xml-rpc, Grid, etc. Each of these tech innovations deliver and/or demonstrate parts of the vision in the report. Dann, has reworked the concept given this new tech. It looks like a virtual Intranet. Hmm. Need to think about that...
11:44:35 AM
|
|
Karzai to push for the destruction of the opium economy in Afghanistan. The country is fully a narco-state (another way of saying failed state) with nearly ~80% of its GDP coming from opium production. This is may be the start of the end for Karzai. His Blackwater bodyguards may not be able to save him when this blows up.
10:27:06 AM
|
|
FT. Economic blowback from the GWOT (global war on terror). Major oil producers have dropped the first shoe on the dollar (the second shoe is China). They have reduced dollar exposure from 75% to 61.5% since 9/11. The trend is accelerating due to fears that assets will be frozen as part of the war on terror. Also, imports from the EU have grown 14% between 2001 and 2003 while imports from the US have fallen. "After the re-election of George Bush, the Middle East started to sell dollars like crazy due to the fears of assets being frozen."
9:03:29 AM
|
|
FT. Non-state guerrillas in Columbia are using genetic engineering to boost revenues and defeat defoliation. The innovation continues (here's the Wired story on selective breeding).
Colombian police have identified a genetically modified and super-hardy coca "tree" that yields up to eight times more cocaine than a traditional shrub... With the help of foreign agronomists, the police say, traffickers have developed a leafier strain of plant that grows to 9ft, at least twice the height of the traditional shrub. The size and strength of the plant makes it resistant to herbicides. More important, the modified coca contains about four times more cocaine alkaloid. Coca bushes are tended by peasant farmers who harvest the leaves and sell them to Colombia's guerrilla and paramilitary armies.
6:37:21 AM
|
|
© Copyright 2005 John Robb.
|
|
|
