John Robb's Weblog

Hudna

Pat Lang expounds on a Hudna between Hamas and Israel.

The Border

A combination of paranoia and real activity is in play on the border with Mexico. Members of a violent international gang working for drug cartels in Central and South America are planning coordinated attacks along the U.S. border with Mexico, according to a Department of Homeland Security document obtained by the Daily Bulletin. Detailed inside a Jan. 20 officer safety alert, the plot's ultimate goal is to "begin gaining control of areas, cities and regions within the U.S." The information comes from the interrogation of a captured member of Mara Savatrucha, or MS-13

$262 a barrel of oil?

DAVOS, Switzerland (FORTUNE) - Be afraid. Be very afraid. That's the message from two of the world's most successful investors on the topic of high oil prices. One of them, Hermitage Capital's Bill Browder, has outlined six scenarios that could take oil up to a downright terrifying $262 a barrel.

This is the right sentiment (these guys have a great nose for opportunity), but the scenarios are flawed (which will impact how you construct the derivatives to profit from it). How this plays out is much more important...

Spinning the Constitution

I concur with Jim and Larry on the damage Bush is doing to the Constitution, but we seem to be in a minority. There doesn't seem to be anything left to the Republican Party anymore. None of the core values have survived.

CIA Predator Assassinations

LAT: Taking potshots at needles in a haystack.

Not so skillful counterfeiters

LATimes. It looks like there was a lot of skill in producing the high quality counterfeits but little in laundering them.

All Alone on Iran

The US case for a military strike on Iran has been forcibly undercut by the UK: Responding to comments by US politicians stressing the 'leverage' the military option allowed, Straw said such action was not under discussion. 'I understand that's the American position. Our position is different ... There isn't a military option. And no one is talking about it.'

TrueCrypt

Don has found a great open-source disk encryption package.

The tipping point on alternative energy?

Dana Blankenhorn is right, the use of alternative energy sources isn't an option anymore. It's not just about price. It's about availability (not in our hands) and the collective costs/contortions it inflicts on our society to secure it.

It's also a dominant strategy. Think about this way. The reason the US is so rich today re: the rest of the world is that WW2 was so good to us. Why not repeat the process with energy? When supplies do crunch (for whatever the reason) why not be the nation that is untouched by the economic consequences and able to sell solutions to the rest of the world???

Shoot. I am starting to sound like Friedman...

India tries market-based security collectives

Telegraph India: Shaken by the most devastating militant attacks on oil installations in recent times, oil majors and Dispur have revived a 2003 proposal to raise an exclusive security force to guard the vast network of pipelines and installations across Assam. Officials of oil companies will meet government representatives on February 3 to work out the modalities of raising the force, which would, in all probability, be culled out from the Assam Tea Plantation Security Force, formed exclusively for the tea sector in the nineties.