Forum Archive Index - June 2004

["David & Jill Stevenson" <djstevo@quicksilver.net.nz>]

Robin ,

          At least concede he does stick to his guns . You are too subtle to accuse him of direct naivety with the analogy to instinctive forces  operating in the natural world .But remember intuition is what second guessing is about and is a function of International Foreign Intelligence Agencies as well as Futurists . So he is in good company . It is then simply a case of examining his rationale .Everyone is free to do that .

          When he introduces the X factor of terrorism to his scenarios remember the explosive growth of Al Queda in recent years .From a beginning of humble training  schools  in Saudi Arabia financed by their founder we saw Western involvement in Afghanistan .That invasion and the ignominy of defeat saw malcontents from a primitive Taliban seek  philosophical and terrorist "sophistication " under the Al Queda regime . The Al Queda nucleus metastacized over the borders into neighbouring welcoming and unwelcoming host countries disguised as the original modern day "refugee ".

          The significance of that reflected in the fact that there are now estimated to be 18,000 Al  Queda terrorists world wide .Equally significant they are represented in over 60 countries .They wear no party badges for ready identification nor do they shout their ideological ideas from the roof tops of those host countries . They are being subtly trained to look more "normal ". You , Robin , may even have unwittingly hosted one of them to a meal the other night . Can you say categorically that you did not ? Rather , that it was some innocent but intelligent foreign student  on an exchange .

          Have I given a better profile to the X factor of terrorism so besetting Haggis`s pessimistic outlook .Is he so irrational and should he confine himself solely to his charts ? When Oscar Wilde described "  Intuition as the last refuge of the unknowledgable female " was he excluding Haggis purely on grounds of sex ? 

          Anyway - Regards to you Robin .

 

                        David