- A draft US Army intelligence report has identified the popular micro-blogging service Twitter, Global Positioning System maps and voice-changing software as potential terrorist tools. A chapter on "Potential for Terrorist Use of Twitter" notes that Twitter members sent out messages, known as "Tweets," reporting police movements at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. "Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences," the report said.
Blackwater--the US government’s preferred private military contractor in Iraq--is considering ambitious plans for a small fleet of two or three anti-piracy vessels, each able to carry several dozen armed security personnel. The idea is still in its early stages, and will only proceed if there is sufficient demand from shipowners and their insurers for such protection, executive vice-president Bill Matthews told Lloyd’s List. As reported last week, Blackwater has already acquired and converted a former survey ship for such purposes. The 183-foot vessel, McArthur, is likely to be deployed in the Gulf of Aden by the end of this year, once its current training contracts are completed.
- Emerging markets that seemed healthy, even thriving, barely a month ago are beginning to find themselves caught in the worldwide panic. This sharp turn has caught even the local financial guardians and experts by surprise, as they have clung to their indicators of fundamental economic soundness while forgetting that capital stampedes rarely tarry for fine distinctions. From Europe’s former Communist bloc to South America, fear and disbelief mingled with frustration that a breakdown in the United States mortgage market — one that most investors and institutions in emerging markets had avoided — was beginning to lead once again to their punishment. In related news, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to offer a $16.5bn loan to Ukraine and has agreed an as yet undisclosed package with Hungary to "maintain confidence and economic and financial stability."
- C.S.A. Strategy Quote Of The Day: "Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."--Napoleon Bonaparte
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