November 2009

by 2 comments on "If the seagulls follow the Tory, it is because they expect thinktanks will be thrown in the water"

Something else. This week saw the Tories deploy yet another inflatable thinktank – rightly mocked here, here, here, and essentially everywhere blog is sold. Clearly “ResPublica” is hilariously vacuous, and where it’s not vacuous, it’s fucking frightening, as well as being weirdly reminiscent of Iranian revolutionary political thought according to Alistair Crooke. But it’s far…

Read More If the seagulls follow the Tory, it is because they expect thinktanks will be thrown in the water
by 4 comments on "Links And Ties"

The affair of the stolen HadCRU e-mail should tell us a couple of things. The first is that this is why you should worry about privacy. If you do enough naive traffic analysis, not only will you find a pattern – people communicate in patterns – but you’ll be able to find something that you…

Read More Links And Ties
by 1 comment on "long distance information, give me Goma, DRC"

Alex de Waal has an interesting post on the role of satellite phones, and specifically the Arabic and more importantly cheap Thurayas, in the wars of the Sahara today. He argues, in essence, that the capital requirements of being a warlord are coming down; if you don’t have a Toyota, you’re cannon fodder, if you…

Read More long distance information, give me Goma, DRC
by 1 comment on "arr!"

Stupidity about pirates. (Yes, this again. When will it end?) No doubt the usual suspects will already be drivelling about this story. Frankly, if you think the best opportunity to rescue the hostages was when they were between a tossing, fibreglass 40-odd foot boat and a 25,000 ton hijacked containership, using as your main equipment…

Read More arr!