I know what you are thinking, Richard.

You are going to suggest that we slash into our commitment to military toys and ploys, to beef up urban security.

Well, mate, we must have those Joint Strike Fighters (and any other paper aeroplane), big tanks and gee-whiz weaponry, because they are good for business.

Plods on the beat? - unimaginative! Sniffer dogs? - too cheap!
 

We cannot accept that the bombings in London are an elaborate hoax or a plot by the neocons to justify their actions and political beliefs The bombings are not created thus as a means to enforce control through fear. They are not purposefully designed to suit increase of business power. Yet, we can link these fearful and profitable reactivities to our leadership being under the influence of neocons philosophies like those of the New American Century Bertold Brecht in his play “Mother Courage

From a mobile-to-mobile conversation picked up in London by MI5, and passed over to DIMIA for translation.

Kev: "G'doi, Lex. We can cooperate here, divide the spoils, as it were, do ourselves a bit of good, and, it's a long shot, I know, maybe even do a bit for the people. You take a couple of the hospitals where Aussies are being treated, I'll take a couple of others. Keep out of each other's way, but stay in close contact for a few days. Whadya reckon?"

Lex: "Good try, you nerdy twit. Go drop off a cliff. I've got plans. I'm sick of buzzing all over the globe, making an ass of meself at every other turn. I'm buggered if I'm going to be Treasurer, either. I'm looking at The Lodge, so I have to beat the Rat at his own wretched game. But, the sewer's a natural environment for a political animal. So, shove off, shorty, go find yer own tragedy. I'm got work to do. See what months of practice has done for Blair's pathos?  Where's that full-length mirror? Where's my drama coach?"

Doug admires political leadership, and recommends their values should be brought into every home. Lies, deceit, dissembling, hypocrisy and rank opportunism will make the nation strong again.

Gus, from MY perspective, it is the U.S. and it's allies that are spreading terrorism around the World full stop.

Contrary to your writtings, the U.S. as well as the U.K. Military manufacturers and suppliers have much to gain finacially from an on going War.

As  a Vietnam Vet, I certainly would NEVER discount the assumption that either Government may be behind any such act, they have demonstrated in the past, that such acts are within their abilities and have not hesitated to utilise them for their own benefits.

A few thousand lives are simply a drop in the bucket in the whole picture, and dismissed as collateral damage anyway.

I agree with you itchyvet. Read between the lines... I only say that terrorism is not directly peddled or manufactured by the CIA or MI6... What is however creating terrorism or making it grow beyond the level of its own real existence (terrorism has existed since the year dot) is the present reactivity of governments. That sabre rattling reactivity, whether conscious or not. is fuelling terrorism like turps on a camp fire. In "Mother Courage", the mother did not care much about her two sons' death in the war, all she was interested in was the profit made from selling wares to the soldiers....

Does equipping a resistance movement in an occupided  state by a third party count as directly peddling terrorism, Gus?   Never mind applying this question to current activities in Iraq-  "Direct" connections can be made from the CIA's arming and training of Afghganistan's Mujuhaddeen in the early 80's to the current "wave of global terrorism".

I found it ironic that the builder's of Al Qaeda's Torabora headquarters were bombing it in a vain attempt to capture or kill their former local lieutenant. 

That time and distance  separate events doesn't mean that one cannot be the direct consequence of another.  The example I'm looking into is the possible catalystic consequences of Dick Cheney's visit to Australia in 97.

Something tells me that this whole current global political scenario is a contrived artifice  constructed over a signifigant timespan.  and that the veiling of direct participation will one day be lifted... perhaps in thirty years or so when documents conteporaneous to this era are declassified.

I sadly agree with Itchyvet that the collateral damage figures are again signifigantly minimal, and the psychological impact to the affected city only marginal.  Friends of mine in London tell me that there was such a sensation of "business as usual" the day after the bomb blasts that it felt as if nothing had happened.

No iconic reminders of the event have been  inflicted on the city... no smoking ruins of Big Ben or the tower of London.  The trains were running again at 5 a.m. the next day.  This, unlike the WTC attack,  is not in keeping with the much- touted notion of an enemy attempting to instill shock and fear into the psyche of a civilisation.

Let me come at this from another point of view.  When a musical act is on tour and wants to generate publicity in a city's media and generate album sales in stores, it doesn't need to play to an audience of,say, ten thousand at an entertainment centre. The much easier logistics of a five-hundred-punter pub gig will generate the same number of columns per centimetre and chart figures.

That the London incident has generated so much media for so little loss could be considered a similar approach.  Again, it's not how you would expect an enemy to operate.

The fact that the event justifies the intentions of the current administration of the world's only remaining "superpower" is more of a concern than the possible rationales of apparently extremely half-hearted terrorists or freedom fighters. 

I'lll bet we'll find out that the website-based claims of responsibility  by this new Al Qaeda cell  have emanated from a Houston-based I.S.P. 

While the correlations may be circumstantial at times, it's beginning to look as if the creation of current events is nothing more than a complicated equivalent of selling AK-47 rounds from the back of a truck in Baghdad.

The truth will out... directly. 

Yes I know the CIA is presently directly involved in trying to destabilise Iran using ethnic "insurgents" against the newly elected government in that country.(I wrote a blog about this) .. Yes I know the support given by the CIA and the former US administrations to the Taliban to fight the soviets, yes I know of the CIA intentions to kill a few "free" Cubans inside the US in 1963 in order to create a war with Castro by blaming him... Yes I know of the wars fought in Angola by US sponsored troops versus Russian sponsored troops,.. Yes I know of the way Nicaragua was infiltrated... Yes I know how drugs are being ferried across from Columbia to the US by the same US army that is supposed to stop the trade... Yes I know of a few more places where the CIA gets its hands dirty... But all this points out to the tit for tat payola. You do this, I do that... And it can only escalate... What I was saying earlier is that the bombing in London are not CIA or MI6 generated... even if they can be considered as a retaliation to what they did or are doing somewhere else that we don't hear about. The bombing in London are generated from this escalation of the "war on terror" encouraged by more sabre rattling from Blair and Bush who delude themselves in thinking they can win because they think they are smarter, stronger and have "right" on their side... Hypocrisy and delusions, and unfortunately our populations accept that as being part of normality... Yes, the US is behaving like terrorists in many parts of the world in the name of "good" which most of our own population believe is justified... They do not add two and two because what the CIA may be doing is not happening in our backyard or is being presented with a spin... We do not see the damage done by our agents to people who did not do any harm to us in the first place. Then these people are not going to stay idle thereafter.... We are giving them the reasons to terrorise us since we have terrorised them... Like Mohamed Ali refusing to serve in Viet Nam said: Why should I fight there, the Vietcong never called me a nigger..." Whoever did the bombing in London Madrid New York was paying back what was being done by the US and its acolytes somewhere else... The mind set may not be a direct route but it is the pattern that creates the reactions. Now we the ordinary people, we are fed bullshit about "We will prevail" etc... The Russians are also fighting their own little war on terrorism and our government might bag them for doing so and not allow our kind of freedom... Hypocrisy... The only way this nonsense can ever stop is by some massive soul serching and being able to take some of the blame on ourselves... In former blogs I indicated that what we are seeing now is the true awakening of many populations that have been colonialised, and set free with a kick up the arse by basically letting them fight their little civil or uncivil wars (often encouraged) while multi nationals are taking as much of their resources for peanuts... Blair appears to be seeing a little light but the G8 actions won't make a hoot of difference if there are strings attached to our generosity or genuine desired to help... The posting of Wolfowitz to the World Bank has been the most insane soft form of terrorism...

Hank Schouten, on Stuff.co.nz writes: 

Australia
and other countries which support the United States-led war on Iraq
could be the next target for al Qaeda terrorist attacks, says Auckland
University anti-terrorism expert Paul Buchanan.

He
said the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were the most likely motivations
for the terrorist attacks in London, and other states which supported
the US-led war on terror had cause to worry about what might come next.

Australia,
which has troops in Iraq, could be a target and so could other nations
supporting the US-led invasion and occupation.

The
London attack was carefully planned and sophisticated and probably
carried out by an Islamic sleeper cell, Dr Buchanan said.

An
attack like this was inevitable given Britain's support for the war on
terror and Iraq and the fact it had a population of disgruntled
Muslims.

Read on..... 

 

In today's Australian, Greg Sheridan tells us to "get ready for more of the same".   If he's referring to right-wing rhetoric such as this being printed as factual journalism, I'd prefer otherwise.

 If his article is an example of how the Murdoch press would prepare us for  strike on home soil, then we should be alarmed.  We have been alerted that the sequence of events is beginning to resemble a deadly soap opera.  It feels to me that the "escalations" Gus referred to are happenning too quickly, with hasty scripwrting resulting in some shoddy performances.

 We must be due for a "cliff-hanger" any time soon, the one that will have us anticipatng the new season's episodes.

  The announcement is contained within this Bloomberg story on KBR 's lead role in the Barrow Island LNG project, offshore from Western Australia. 

Incidently my landlord was around the other day to fix the whiteants before he went back to work on the Barrow Island project, and even he was unaware that KBR were involved.

Bloomberg  made mention in September of last year of KBR 's Andrew Lane talking in in a conference call of his corp gaining  an Australian LNG contract .

In a marvellous coincidence of timing, Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill has raised the possibility of a new defence base in the Kimberly region of Western Australia.  The base would available for training purposes Australia's allies. 

KBR told us in a 2003 press release that they were "fostering work around the world". 

It would appear that everything is running to schedule.

Today's Advertiser tells us why an attack on Adelaide is unlikely.  I am gravely concerned.  Please read this posting and refer it to anybody who may be "alert". Yours alarmedly,  Richard,