Undercover Economist: Tried and tested ways to woo a half-hearted terrorist

March 20, 2010 12:56 am

In 1973, Yassir Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, had an unusual problem. His elite unit, Black September, had seized international headlines by kidnapping and then murdering Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, along with other high-profile attacks. That had forced the world to take the PLO seriously, but now that Arafat was seeking international recognition, he needed to muzzle his own attack dogs, a hundred ruthless warriors with nothing to live for but the cause.

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Tim, also known as the Undercover Economist, writes about the economics of everyday life.

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