Friday, February 25, 2005

Stormfront.  A weblog and discussion board for White Supremacists.  Islamic radicals aren't the only groups using new technology as a means of energizing a geographically dispersed community.  As of this posting, there were 807 people on the site. We'll be adding new modules in coming days and weeks, including a Yahoo-style links directory, a singles site, and an ebay-style auction site, all directly accessed and maintained by registered board members. We'll also be fleshing out the style and design 8:31:45 PM

WT.  Former Mexican soldiers, police and federal agents, originally trained as an elite force of anti-drug commandos, are working as mercenaries for Mexican narcotics traffickers, bringing a new wave of drug-related killings into the United States, authorities said. 7:20:18 PM

Hamma-lite and the Virtual TAZ  IRIN Reuters.  There are fears that the US will replicate its Hamma-lite strategy on Ramadi as it did with Fallujah.  People are already leaving the city.  The problem with this strategy is that it creates an exodus of resentful refugees.  Refugees can create mobile subnets that serve as a virtual TAZ (temporary autonomous zone) for global guerrilla operations.  This mobile TAZ can ooze with celerity across regional and national boundaries.  It also drives people to depend on primary loyalties like nothing else could.  Not smart. 1:51:39 PM

Being a Maverick  This conference would have been fun.  Barnett, Richards, and Hammes were there.  Unfortunately, when I checked my inbox there wasn't an invitation.  LOL ;->.  I guess I am going to end up like Boyd, Lind, and Hart:  a maverick outsider that is read and appreciated more by global revisionists than the insiders he is trying to enlighten.  Good company to be in despite that fact that mavericks don't get invited to the insider parties (or invited to participate in the income).  There is a small modicum of satisfaction in being correct and being on the right side of history.  Also, being outside the plush accommodations of the mainstream helps me to retain the edge I need to think like a global guerrilla... 12:46:07 PM

The Red Herring.  Mitch Ratcliffe on dollar risk. 12:24:15 PM

Raspberries... Policy Wonks Succumb to the Pressure  Lots of laughs (LOL).  The Heritage Foundation is calling bloggers busybodies...  Isn’t it great to see that there are so many people looking out for us?  Maybe not. Maybe that’s why we call those folks busybodies.  Leading lights of the technorati are calling a feature in Google’s new Toolbar a “strategic mistake” and a “bet the company decision.” This is yet another example of "professionals" that feel that they are being disintermediated.  This namecalling is likely driven by fear.  They should be fearful, more people (by two orders of magnitude) read my analysis of terrorism than theirs.   Further, the quality of my audience would stack up against theirs.  Why?  Because my work holds up (it is both explanatory and predictive).  Theirs?  Spin.  None of these "analysts" are allowed to deviate from the party line. 11:21:17 AM

WSJ.  Diving into Hedge funds.  The collapse of Long Term Capital Management almost sank the global financing system.  Rapid intervention saved it.  Today's situation is more complicated.  There are hundreds of funds that follow the same highly leveraged models.  Rapid ahistorical moves in highly leveraged markets could cause a contangion effect among hedge funds that would unwind faster than central bank intervention could defuse.  In this case (as with global guerrillas), decentralization works against resolution. 8:03:34 AM