Some items of interest:
- Policing via inkspot counter-insurgency methods in the favelas of Rio. It works, at a heavy social price, until a) the criminals opt to become more like guerrillas (overrun, IEDs, or more), b) it becomes too expensive to continue funding, or c) the police become as bad as the gangs they replace.
- An excellent movie from Brazil that I highly recommend re: favelas, urban counter-insurgency, modern warfare etc is Tropa de Elite -- Elite Squad. WARNING: It's hard edged and not Hollywood powder puff "action." Directed by Jose Padilha.
- Shlok Vaidya critiques the slow ideological approach of India's Naxalite insurgency (although they get some aspects right). GG theory suggests that the optimal approach to insurgency growth is to connect with other groups that oppose the state (and thereby grow the whole faster) economically, militarily, etc.
- As the economic depression deepens for Thailand, local currencies based on the Santi-suk model are spreading virally across northeastern part of country (that's why it's important to focus on models for resilient communities, get it right and it spreads quickly). Keys to expansion? 1) Legal cover from lawyers willing to donate time has kept the central bank off of their backs. 2) The adoption of the currency by a local rice mill, which is a focal point for the local economy. More from James Hookway writing for the Wall Street Journal. Here's more on local scrip/currencies.
- Piracy off the coast of Nigeria. Bourbon, a French oil services firm, announced that their ship, the Bourbon Leda, was seized with nine crewmembers. This is a follow up to an earlier successful (in that it likely yielded millions in payments) piracy attack on a Bourbon vessel in October 2008. Meanwhile, attacks on oil infrastructure continue.
- Timelapse video of a single botnet infection from Clarified networks. Note that white is infection activity as computers are taken over.
- Low cost "solar powered" Fridge -- just add water.
- Gaza. Israel is locked in a strategic vise that will get tighter and tighter. What is the vice? DIY missiles and a strategic barrage. DIY missiles are proving much cheaper and easier to deliver than using human beings as the terminal guidance systems for explosives (unfortunately, radical improvements in accuracy are in the offing making them comparable to human delivery). Israel can't ignore the missiles due to their impact on psychology and economic activity. Walls don't help either. It can't adopt Hama rules (razing enemy territory) without incurring isolation/economic collapse. It can't engage the enemy without high collateral damage which boosts recruitment and solidifies support for its enemies (Van Creveld's paradox or broadening the conflict to include missiles from Hezbollah).
- Somali pirates free Saudi supertanker = earn $3 million for their effort.
- More when I get a chance (and thanks to all that sent links or borrowed links from).