DC meets Twilight : 2000

[Story]

How's this for a MERC :2000 /DC crossover opening?

Hedge funds are behind "land grabs" in Africa to boost their profits in the food and biofuel sectors, a US think-tank says.

In a report, the Oakland Institute said hedge funds and other foreign firms had acquired large swathes of African land, often without proper contracts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13688683

see also
http://i.imgur.com/dtMvA.jpg
and
http://i.imgur.com/6gGqC.png

[ReHerakhte]

Very interesting piece of news and while it seems it's been easy enough to acquire land in Africa, I wonder if those same companies realize how hard it might be to keep control of that same land?

[Zvezda]

I think it is not too difficult to keep the land, okay it has not worked too well in the past, all colonies were lost but I think for the beginning the disadvantage lies clearly whith the peasants currently on that land.

[Story]

Imagine a Tomahawk missile tipped with a warhead that can “analyze targets and then tailor a beam of radio frequency or high power microwaves to upset or even electronically destroy systems dependent on electronics,” Fulgham reports. Or put a smaller version onto a missile fired from a plane. Command bunkers, intelligence hubs and communications centers? Fried, fried and deep fried.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/06 ... -defenses/

[fenlason]

Fried, fried and deep fried.

Small enough for a Tomahawk, small enough for an unmanned aircraft. One that loiters above vision that can optically track human-sized targets, engage them and Fried, fried, fried.

Tomahawk would only be needed for sophisticated air defense suppression.

[Story]

Fried, fried and deep fried.

Tomahawk would only be needed for sophisticated air defense suppression.

Remember, for every step forward in a weapons system, there's a countermove (like cheap but effective ADA/AAA systems).

Meanwhile, another catalyst for a war.

Agriculture is topping the G-20 agenda for the first time as agriculture ministers from the world's largest economies gather in Paris beginning Wednesday. Ever since a dramatic spike in world food prices in 2008 sparked panic and deadly riots in countries across three continents, agriculture and food security have become issues of global, political importance. And crop shortages this year have some experts already predicting another rise in grain prices like that of 2008.

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/22/137324767 ... -attention

[Story]

Anyone still have the Bangkok supplement to MERC : 2000? This is a good way to turn things weird -

From
http://www.abandonedjourney.com/abandon ... of-awesome
(be sure to visit for the photos)

Bangkok, Thailand. Just fourteen years ago, the Sathorn Unique skyscraper was being built, destined to become one of the city’s fanciest residential addresses. Now, it is an abandoned building. Never completed, it remains as yet another “ghost tower” of Bangkok. A tangle of trees and vines are beginning to take over the lighter parts of this monolith, such as the four storey archways and romanesque feature columns. Amazingly, this building is located in the central area of one of the worlds largest cities. These towers were built during the mid nineties, when the Thai economy was booming. In 1997, the Asian Financial Crisis changed all that. Developers stricken with debt were unable to finish many projects. In the case of Sathorn Unique, the main concrete structure made it all the way to the top. The apartment fit-outs had begun in earnest, with wooden floor boards installed and polished. Connected bathtubs, wardrobes, and electrics show just how close this one was to completion. At ground floor, two escalators have been installed, climbing to nowhere in particular, the remnants of protective plastic still clinging onto their stainless steel sides. With an amazing location close to the Chao Praya river that snakes it’s way through the center of Bangkok, it’s easy to see how this abandoned building would have been luxury living at it’s finest.

After a tip off from some of the locals, a small climb got me into the lobby area. Inside, a man had set up a shrine, and was providing offerings to his God. Children who were playing around the outer area of the building had clearly been warned of the dangers inside. Although they were smiling, they were clearly fearful of the building, perhaps due to the ghost stories and other tales of fear their elders had instilled in them.

[ReHerakhte]

Very interesting article about the abandoned tower (and abandoned buildings in Bangkok in general).
I've been interested in visiting Thailand to see the older buildings (oh and also for the cheap booze) but it seems the modern architecture has something to offer as well!

[Story]

More MERC 2000 meets DC

A new Human Rights Watch report details how hundreds of convicts were beaten, forced to carry supplies for the military – and clear landmines with sticks and forks.

http://the-diplomat.com/2011/07/13/burm ... n-walking/

[Story]

For those with the BANGKOK - CESSPOOL OF THE ORIENT Sourcebook.

“If we leave Iraq and Afghanistan off the list, the southern region of Thailand is one of the most violent insurgencies in the world,” said Srisompob Jitpiromsri, director of the insurgency monitoring group Deep South Watch. “And we seem to be moving towards a worse situation.”

Killings occur at a daily clip. Ethnic Thais have fled en masse. The hardened core that remain have assembled all-Buddhist militias composed of men and women, teens and the elderly. Their temples, a favored jihadi target, have become fortresses ringed with sandbags and razor wire.

Now, for the first time since the insurgency’s 2004 renaissance, Thailand’s political leadership is openly uttering a once-forbidden phrase: “special administrative zone,” code for ceding more autonomy to Islamic Thailand. Military officers begrudgingly admit to “peace talks” with the shadowy network that has murdered thousands of troops, cops and civilians.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news ... troduction