Ok, color me crazy, but am I the only person to note these connections? specifically,
[ Spoiler ]
Arthur Vogel travels "somewhere in amazonia" for vacation one week out of every year, has some sort of mysterious 'deep green' backer, is acting as if someone or something is 'breathing down his neck' and pushing him to make friends with his old ecoterrorist pals, the recent reappointment of a corporate court justice is supposedly not someone he chose, but someone his backers chose... coincidentally, not long after we just had a major storyline about an organisation in amazonia that has plans for the world at large, and is hardcore eco-terrorist?
and on that note, just going through the aztechnology chapter, i can't help noticing
[ Spoiler ]
that horizon seems to be almost targeting aztechnology. horizon strongholds are places where aztechnology is restricted or prohibited from operating, horizon's products are noted as being primarily in the same market as aztechnology's, and so forth. one might almost suspect that they have some sort of hidden backer as well. personally, my speculation is that they were financed by enemies of aztechnology, possibly amazonia and the yucatan being major backers. after all, the corporation can't just appear out of nowhere without *someone* giving it a great big push...
more on this as i read, i suppose.