Saboteurs disrupt electricity supply inside WTO:

Unidentified attackers sabotaged the electricity supply inside the World Trade Organisation headquarters in Geneva, early this morning by causing the system to temporarily short circuit, a WTO spokeswoman said.

A police statement said two to three people broke into an electrical centre next door to the main WTO building. They managed to cut off the power supply, leaving the WTO without electricity for 45 minutes.

Power was rapidly restored but several hours later some computers were still not functioning, WTO spokeswoman Mr Liliane Rastello said.

While fierce demonstrations by opponents of free trade have dogged a a key WTO ministerial conference underway in Seattle since Tuesday, no special security measures were put into place in Geneva.

"This is a public building, there is free access to the grounds," she said. - (AFP)

-- Risteard MacThomais (uachtaran@ireland.com), December 03, 1999

Answers

Struggling to see how this specific thread (not this topic in general) relates to Y2K. At all.

Please please please please please cull these threads. Could they be moved to another forum instead? Think library - all the books are there, they're just kept on different shelves.

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), December 03, 1999.

Apologies, Colin, since I think I agree with you. I've got so bewildered by Y2K by now that I'm starting to get all these 3-letter acronyms confused.

(On the other hand, the possibility of sabotage by various groups around the world may add to the woes of Y2K, so perhaps there is SOME connection)

Sysops - cull this if you see fit!

-- Risteard MacThomais (uachtaran@ireland.com), December 03, 1999.

Y2K has been described in many news stories for many months as an invitation for acts of sabotage, terrorism and disruption.

In this forum, I for one would like to see mention of activities like this in order to gauge reaction by individuals, nations and authorities to multiple, interconnected, global incidents along this line. Very Y2K.

-- (normally@ease.notnow), December 03, 1999.

"Normally", you have a point, but I vote with the previous posters. IMHO, this thread is too OT and should be deleted. (It is not at all alone in that respect, so please do not feel picked on.) Consider how (due to size) increasingly impossible it is to read the whole forum, even if that is practically all one were to do with one's time. Also, the increasing size of the forum slows down moderator response time to pollytrolls, a significant concern.

www.y2ksafeminnesota.com

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), December 03, 1999.

I don't think it should be deleted.

Since THE ingredient we fear losing most is power, at least in the beginning, it does one good to observe the real world mindset of the provocateurs.

I have explained through linear progression, the potentials of Y2K to those I love and care about. They generally believe that the government and utility companies won't LET anything happen to the power.

Showing the dots of grid structure, and the posts about cyberterrorism has allowed them to connect those dots, and GI to a degree that I believe has made quantum leaps BACKWARDS about their unquestionable faith in systems.

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), December 03, 1999.

There's no "connection" to Y2K. It's people fascinated by the protests finding any excuse to drag that dirty laundry into the greenspun boards for their own entertainment.

Please stop posting about contrails and the WTO "protests." It's boring to say the least. alt.conspiracy would be an excellent place for such posts.

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), December 03, 1999.

Colin and Paula, This forum is about discussing the world we live in and the world we "will" live in. These things, contrails and WTO, are happening NOW. If you don't like it, don't read it.

Exercise your rights. If you can't see the connection, too bad.

-- Gregg (g.abbott@starting-point.com), December 03, 1999.

Gregg, like Colin said, why do you think a library is organized the way it is? If you were the librarian would you dismiss the dewey decimal system for your system of chaos? Why have any organization at all. I won't belabor the point, it shouldn't be too difficult to understand.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), December 03, 1999.

There is a certain school of thought that holds that the situation developing in Seattle can serve as a simulation/model of more widespread events that may confront us in a few weeks. Sort of "y2k in a microcosm".

If the model is accurate, then by observing how people react, it will be easier to anticipate reactions on a grander scale in the next few weeks.

And of course, the theory -- from what I've read here -- asserts that this is the precise reason for the present events in the first place - - to provide a benchmark for action/reaction patterns.

For a casual observer with no particular stake in the outcome, it's still an interesting object lesson in how people on either side of the equation interact while moderately stressed, and as such, is a valuable tutorial for other social stressors that may occur more close to home.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), December 03, 1999.

Sounds very suspicious to me. Perhaps a planned "attack" by TPTB?

THINK: If you were a vehement objector to the WTO, and went through all the trouble to case the joint, etc. before the attack, why would you just cut off their power?

Hell, one measly gallon of gasoline, which can fit under your arm, would have been enough to torch all/most of the building. All you'd need is 2 minutes to spread it around, then sling-shot in a lit candle from a safe distance!

You don't have to root around for the power disribution system, which takes A LOT of time. That's why I don't buy this planted story.

-- profit of doom (doom@helltopay.ca), December 03, 1999.

Colin,

I know you're somewhat of a newbie here. I do respect you, after reading your apology a while back, and I do appreciate your comments.

Yes, this is a Y2K forum. There are, what, a few hunderd regulars here that share a common concern, and who knows how many lurkers. The reason that I hang here is because we get most of the Y2K news before anyone else, thanks to our many news-hounds. Stuff that we see today is on Gary North, and countless other Y2K sites tomorrow.

But I think it goes beyond that. I also appreciate "other" news items. I like knowing what's going on in the world, Y2K related or not. I think it's nice to have this stuff show up here, without having to bounce around another dozen sites to get the 411.

Based on the number of answers that we are getting to the WTO story, the chem spray story, and many of the other OT posts, I think others here are also interested. Sure, we do get some really wacky stuff, but they tend to have very few, if any, answers. The forum does a pretty good job at knowing what is important, and what is not.

I've been here since February, when the traffic was maybe half of what it is today. I didn't have enough time to read every post then, let alone now. I first look at what is an obvious Y2K story, then go back and check out some of the others.

Try it, you'll like it.

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 03, 1999.