What the Attack on Abu Ghraib Means. As I mentioned earlier, the attack on Abu Ghraib is proof that al Qaeda is now officially in Iraq. The execution followed a classic al Qaeda pattern. Here are some things that the press missed in the little coverage they provided: The level of sophistication. Swarming and feints. [...]

Goodbye to Privacy. In the past five years, what most of us only recently thought of as “nobody's business” has become the big business of everybody's business. By WILLIAM SAFIRE. [NYT > Technology]

The Feds can own your WLAN too : TomsNetworking :. At a recent ISSA (Information Systems Security Association) meeting in Los Angeles, a team of FBI agents demonstrated current WEP-cracking techniques and broke a 128 bit WEP key in about three minutes. Special Agent Geoff Bickers ran the Powerpoint presentation and explained the attack, while [...]

Debris rains on vehicles in tunnel. One day after federal officials declared the Big Dig's tunnels safe, rocks and other debris rained down from an overhead vent in the Interstate 93 southbound tunnel yesterday and damaged at least five vehicles, including an ambulance transporting a patient from Massachusetts General Hospital. [Boston Globe -- Front Page]

For next pontiff, daunting challenges await. Nearly 27 years ago, John Paul II assumed the papacy in an era when the church confronted the real prospect of nuclear war in a world divided between East and West. [Boston Globe -- Front Page]

JP II. As the Holy Father's life slowly ebbs away, I remember the deep impression made on my thinking by reading his encylicals on work and capitalism. I had tackled them as part of a project that became my article Corporate Decisionmaking and the Moral Rights of Employees: Participatory Management and Natural Law. I was [...]

Oil Markets. Reuters. This Goldman Sachs forecast seems to be in line with my earlier “window of vulnerability in the oil market” analysis. If anyone has access to the full report, please send it on. Welcome aboard! Goldman Sachs said in a research report on Thursday that oil markets have entered a “super-spike” period that [...]

URBAN TAKEDOWNS. A rapid increase in urbanization and the proliferation of megacities are salient trends of global economic development since WW2. These trends will be exploited in this war. Cities are both the center of gravity of modern urban economies and extremely vulnerable to global guerrilla systems sabotage — the leveraged infrastructure that cities rely [...]

Tireless thinker who offered world's masses love and hope. EACH morning, when his health allowed him, Pope John Paul II would wake to watch the dawn. “I like to watch the sun rise,” he told friends. This week, as night prepared to envelop him and his 26-year pontificate, it was worth recalling that he saw [...]

PRIMARY LOYALTIES. Global guerrillas are in the final stages of the systematic elimination of the all-volunteer Iraqi security system (which started in earnest with the siege of Fallujah). As anticipated (particularly given John Negroponte's appointment), the interim government's response has been to delegate power to loyalist paramilitaries.  For example: Kurdish paramilitaries are now responsible for [...]