MEMES
‘Fat Ginst Terrism’
The politicians tell us that the ‘Fat Ginst Terrism’ is going to be a long one.
A more accurate handle though, would be ‘ The Fight Against Technology’
– because that’s what it’s really about. Nobody has ever heard of a ‘suicide stone thrower’, or a ‘suicide archer’. The ability for any person so-minded to cause havoc, destruction and death on any large scale is directly linked to the available technology. Technology that, almost without exception, was put together by the ‘Developed World’
The largest developer and exporter of arms is the US. The second the UK, followed closely by France. Backed to the hilt by the politicians, the ‘military industrial complex’ never tires in the development of new and ever more deadly weapons. After a suitable time period has elapsed ( i.e. when the country concerned has had time to develop an even more devastating device ) they sell it. To almost anyone with the cash.
There are ‘embargoes’ in place though. Largely designed to enable the politicians to take the moral high-ground – and placate the voters. Back in the real world, however, the arms get sold, by means of sophisticated government-sanctioned third – fourth – and fifth party cover-up schemes. Because there’s huge-money and government secrecy involved, the opportunities for corruption are enormous. ‘Slush Funds’ ‘Sweeteners’ and ‘Commissions’ are the norm – usually around 10% of the total deal.
Sooner or later, any arms tech developed in Virginia or Berkshire will arrive at the other side of the world.
Imagine the following scenario. A totally isolated village in some lost continent. One of the residents, a paranoid freak, spends every waking hour, and most of his money, fortifying his house, and developing ever more deadly weapons to ‘defend himself’. He soon finds that several other individuals in the village are keen to have similar toys, so gradually, he is persuaded to sell them anything they want ( except the newest stuff ). The money he receives is, of course, ploughed back into his hobby. After a few years, he finds that some of the other villagers are not only fighting amongst themselves – but attacking his property too – with the weapons he had painstakingly invented ! Well Duh! . . . Tough.
Time for some examples . . .
( concentrating only on items which would be useful to so called’ terrorists’.
A tank, for example, is no use whatsoever – any ‘rouge tank’ appearing
anywhere near the ‘Developed World’ would be re-arranged into
scrap metal minutes after its detection )
All the various flavours of plastic explosive – which in effect , make single-individual suicide bombers possible – were developed in Germany, the US and UK.
Saddam Hussein’s anthrax and botulism germ-warfare strains ? Sold to him by the U.S.
Entire family of ‘nerve gases’ , ‘discovered’ in Germany, now can be manufactured almost anywhere.
SAM Missiles used to shoot down passenger jets ? Russian.
Western governments are now making very public noises about their concern that some small ‘organisation’ could develop ( or buy ) a nuclear weapon. The originals were of course built in the US, soon followed by the UK, but the designs were far too bulky to be of any use to modern-day terrorist groups. That was, however, more than fifty years ago. Compare any technology you can think-of from fifty years back to a modern-day example, and you can see why modern-day governments are getting concerned.
In a decade or so, any country on the planet which desires nuclear weapons will be able to have them - especially considering the willingness of the ‘Developed World’ to export the machine tools and components needed to make them. ( The know-how, not surprisingly after fifty years, is more or less public domain, and has been detailed in several books – even posted on the internet ).
Small countries, however, are not considered part of the problem. Any country which dared to use such a weapon against a ‘Developed World’ target would be turned to rubble an hour later. The problem is not small countries – it’s small nuclear devices. Small enough to fit into a car for example.
Such devices were developed decades ago by the US, UK and USSR, and will – sooner or later – leak into the public domain. When that happens, living in the centre of any large city might not be a good option anymore.
Politicians have finally woken up to the threat, and are frankly terrified. For now, their own positions are beginning to look as though they may be in very real danger - as is the safety of all the other inhabitants of the country.
So, any plans to stop the development and proliferation ?
In your dreams. If anything, the restrictions are being lifted. (see Oxfam link below ) It’s hard to foresee how there can ever be a solution to the problem, at least while the ‘Developed World’ is being governed by ‘leaders’ with the mind-set that’s in vogue at the moment.
Your tax $, £, and € are, right now, being channeled into developments which are pouring petrol onto the fire, just as they have done for the last few hundred years. Only now the stakes are higher – so high in fact, that kind of society we have become used to in the ‘Developed World’ , may not be viable for much longer.
Taking a long-view , perhaps it’s an inevitable destination for any ‘intelligent-
being’ which develops technologically. As the saying goes
’A little knowledge is a dangerous thing’
Maybe.
But a lot of knowledge is a hell of a lot more dangerous ; stir in a bit of corruption, greed, paranoia, myopia, and a pinch of whatever it was that Dr. Strangelove had . . .
Time for a letter to the MP ?.
See:
http://www.caat.org.uk/information/publications/other/intro-briefing-0901.php
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/press/releases/controlarms_ukloophole.htm
notes*
UK arms exports 2002, around £4 Billion
US ‘Defense’ budget 2003, over $0.5 Trillion
Today, 11 March 2004, nearly 200 people were killed in separate bomb explosions in Madrid. It’s pretty clear from the devastation that the explosives used won’t have been the two thousand year old Chinese variety. They were high-tech. They will very probably have been manufactured in Europe or the US, and if so, we can be sure that the company concerned has lucrative government contracts*.
Many modern explosives carry special ‘fingerprint’ chemicals which allow the security authorities to identify the factory source – sometimes even individual batches, so there will be little doubt where it came from. When’s the last time you heard about a munitions factory being prosecuted for allowing its products to appear on the black market ?
*update: Above now confirmed.
New update Oct 26th 04
370 tons of high explosives have probably 'gone missing' from a 'coalition' administered arms cache in Iraq.
AP, the BBC and others have correctly pointed out that 1/2 Kg of any oft these materials can easily bring down a passenger jet.
In other words, enough for 700,000 Lockerbie's
Predictably, none of the news agencies we have checked have mentioned where the materials were manufactured, and by which companies.
see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east
