July 10 2007 by The Systemic Analyst.

This report by Max Abrahms presents an interesting perspective on the inefficiency of terrorism and the, perhaps, skewed perceptions of terrorism held by many societies, particularly in the West. It raises a number of questions regarding not just the use of terrorism but the reactions of victims of terrorism, ultimately presenting a compelling argument against the use of terrorism to achieve goals as well as against the current prevailing approaches to countering terrorism.

Posted in Security Measures | No Comments »

July 10 2007 by The Systemic Analyst.

The following article from The International Herald Tribune details the Australian government’s new plans for an integrated security measure allowing multiple agencies to sift through personal information of visa applicants.

The new measures are naive in the sense that the system anticipates potential terrorists to

a.) have a paper trail associated with the identity under which the person is applying for a visa and

b.) that there is a specific pattern or profile for terrorists that can be discerned through financial transactions and other personal data. Granted, poorly thought through involvement with obvious organizations might be a tip off that an applicant does not have the best of intentions. However, a well-trained and equipped would-be terrorist will certainly already know how to beat this measure long before it is even implemented:

SYDNEY, Australia: The Australian government has accelerated plans to let spies share information with immigration officials, a week after a foreign doctor was arrested in connection with the recent failed British terror attacks, the prime minister said Sunday.

Prime Minister John Howard said new software linking the computer systems of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization and the Immigration Department will allow deeper background checks on anyone applying to enter Australia.

“These new resources … give us extraordinary additional capacity to drill down into the backgrounds of people who seek to come to Australia,” Howard told reporters. Click here for more.

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July 10 2007 by The Systemic Analyst.

The following is an excerpt from a blog documenting the Conrad Black trial by Mark Steyn. The perspective is quite interesting and raises some serious questions with the state of the U.S. judicial system if correct. If nothing else, it is yet another perspective on a trial that we should perhaps watch more carefully.

The clock ticks on during the second Monday of jury deliberations. A reader in Ottawa writes:

In a paper called, “The Disputed Question” of Feb. 2006, Harry Jaffa quotes Justice Samuel Chase in the 1798 case of Calder v. Bull regarding what would constitute “legislative acts that would be contrary to the first great social compact” as:

“A law that punished a citizen for an innocent action or, in other words, for an act, which, when done, was in violation of no existing law; a law that destroyed, or impaired the lawful private contracts of citizens; a law that makes a man a judge in his own cause; or a law that takes property from A and gives it to B: It is against all reason and justice for a people to entrust a legislature with such powers; and, therefore, it cannot be presumed that they have done it.”

Immediately, I thought of Conrad Black’s case where no law has been broken (as well as the recent eminent domain cases).

The Hollinger meltdown has violated all of Justice Chase’s laundry list. The company’s board certainly had the right to remove Conrad Black as CEO in November 2003, but everything since has been very disquieting, beginning with the Delaware court’s willingness to “take property from A and give it to B”. In effect, the state expropriated Conrad Black’s “property” - his legal controlling interest in Hollinger International - and gave it to a gang of usurpers with no equity in the company. They do that in gangster states like Zimbabwe but at least they do it quicker and without the attendant legal bills. Click here for more.

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