http://www.csis.org/html/y2kw4.html

The Center for Strategic and International Studies or CSIS has an excellent article at the url above. It's clear, concise and right to the point.

I don't know if you're familiar with CSIS but they are a top notch think tank who just had their second Y2k conference at the beginning of October.

Some highlights:

Y2K is not just a January 1, 2000 problem.

The problem will not arrive as the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 1999. Nor does it end the following day. [one of THE biggest misconceptions]

Y2K could disrupt global financial and trading systems. Financial markets are the central nervous system of the global economy; a vast, complex network of linkages among corporations, financial institutions, exchanges, regulators, depositories, and clearing firms...Failures in telecommunications or power networks could disrupt information and capital flows at critical junctures.

...Indications are that financial institutions already are assessing Y2K counterparty risk and will begin to terminate relationships with firms that they do not believe will be Y2K-compliant. Entire markets could be effectively blacklisted. This "flight to quality" could aggravate an already fragile situation in global financial markets, possibly leading to a Y2K-fueled liquidity crisis.

With the widespread adoption of just-in-time inventory control systems and global manufacturing operations, the health of businesses and economies is increasingly reliant on the timely import and export of raw materials, intermediate goods, and finished products. From shipping facilities, to global navigation satellites, air traffic control, and customs facilities, the smooth-functioning of international trade is dependent upon computer systems and embedded chips. Disruptions in supply lines can quickly shut down entire manufacturing operations.

Y2K presents multifaceted threats to national and global security.

First, Y2K poses a daunting challenge to the Pentagon... _____________________________________________________________________

Please, go read this article.

If you are just discovering Y2k, this article outlines the broad picture of what we might expect in our collective future.

My best to you all.

MT_________________________________________________

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), October 15, 1998

Answers

Thanks for the info, Michael!

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), October 15, 1998.

This is the _second_ public CSIS Conference on Y2K. The first was on June 2nd, titled "The Y2K Crisis: A Global Ticking Time Bomb?" It was carried on C-Span. That transcript is at http://www.csis.org/html/y2ktran.html

Print and broadcast media have ignored these conferences, so far as I can tell. But they jumped right on the near-miss asteroid report, even before it was checked (and found faulty.)

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), October 22, 1998.

Looking thru archives for that CIA quote, found this article -- weird how one year ago it said just about what today's Senate Report says -- as if they used it as a blueprint. Hhmmm.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), September 23, 1999.

Thanks Michael, forgot about that group.

Diane

Hotlink...

http://www.csis.org/ html/y2kw4.html

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 23, 1999.