Peter Hitchens’ blog (The Mail Online) has a book review on The Death Of Mao, which, apart from its eponymous subject, illuminates the little known but disastrous Tangshan earthquake, which happened in the same year as Mao’s death (1976). Hitchens takes the opportunity to lament our ignorance of Chinese history generally, ancient and modern, and slips in a mention of my favourite Flashman novel: Flashman and the Dragon which is praised as thoughtful, contextual and magnificent (if bawdy).
Category Archive: Geopolitics
Flashman And The Dragon mentioned in Mail Online
Published: Contributing author to "Extreme Measures" in The Actuary
Whilst my doctoral work has yet to see any publications, for (re)insurance work, I was a contributing author to the article which made the front page of the October 2011 issue of The Actuary*. If the embedded version below is not showing, the article can be seen at:
Further coverage at http://goo.gl/2DHYX and http://goo.gl/nLxjV (P 29). The other author and contributors were Scott Reid, FFA, Andy Cox, Chris Holt, MBE and Stephen Johnson.
* The Actuary is the publication of the UK’s accrediting body; the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries / Actuarial Profession.
Stuxnet's fascinating history
Stuxnet is in the news again via a new malware, dubbed Duqu or “son of Stuxnet” (full Symantec paper at http://goo.gl/3A3xu). The source remains unclear, but the recent seizures in India may shed some light on that front, as will ongoing analysis by security firms (http://goo.gl/FMPZa).
As an intentional cyberweapon, Stuxnet has a fascinating history. Wired did a great writeup which follows the security professionals who unpeeled the original Stuxnet, and were challenged and surprised at every step:
http://goo.gl/74Rg0
(A shorter animated infographic can be found at http://goo.gl/7I4B2.)
For unintentional cyberweapons, the CIA 1982 sabotage of a Siberian pipeline which resulted in a spectacular explosion comes to mind. If, as suspected (but not unanimously agreed) Stuxnet was an Isaeli/US creation with the aim of disrupting Iranian nuclear technology, then it can also be classed as the world’s first effective cyberweapon. Having shown what is possible, it cannot be long before new attacks are observed, emanating from other states. The UK already recognises the threat and suspects recent action (not as glamorous as Stuxnet) by hostile states.
