Thursday, July 07, 2005

Terrorism

The question that those who are sympathetic to terrorist actions must ask themselves is do they want to be governed by people who think nothing of indiscriminately killing and maiming innocent people irrespective of age, sex, race or religion, or do they want leaders who respect human rights and are prepared to be democratically accountable to their electorate for their actions? Put another way, do they want more Saddam Husseins, Idi Amins, Robert Mugabes, Stalins or Hitlers, or do they want more Nelson Mandelas? If the answer is yes, then they must denounce terrorism and adopt democracy. If the answer is no, then their is simply no hope for humanity.

Poetry: http://www.spearman.blogspot.com

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Robot Wars Against ‘First Departments’

At last a new way out of confrontation stalemate has been found. Today Telegraph tells a story about robot wars. British scientist warns on a new tech arms race. USA, Russia, China and Israel lead the way in that massive drive towards robots mission in combats.

When concept of mutual assured destruction by nuclear superpowers stopped working, they turned to mini-bombs and upgrading conventional weapons. Innovation of Cold war end was terrorism as a tool of strike. Many speculations circulated about who was behind it. Super powers involvement was obvious. In a week after 9/11 I talked to experts in Nato HQ in Brussels. They assured me that ‘all the incidents obviously had been beyond bin Laden’s comprehension’. In Russia anecdote was very popular: ‘great achievement of Russian diplomacy was that Putin had called to Bush with condolences after the strikes, not before.’

However, human factor weakens badly terrorism as a new weapon. Motivated people, by faith or ideology, especially Muslims, are very often hardly ruled and predicted. Robots cure that terrorism defect – they will solve the same tasks under full control of their masters.

Just recently Russia’s former defense minister Sergey Ivanov compared nanotechnologies that are subsided in abundance, with ‘a new nuclear age’.

So, gateways to new forms of confrontations and wars are widely open, while exist cultural incompatibilities, psychological hostilities and political rivalries of any sorts.

Russian authorities get full use of that situation. On the pretext of fighting with terrorism evil, they set up a system of total control and surveillance over people at home and work place.

In apartment blocks FSB fixed ‘senior wardens’, people in charge for monitoring contacts, guests, communications, activities, moods and sayings of inhabitants. Often number of such ‘supervisors’ exceeds amount of ‘observation objects’, and their initiatives much exceed their tasks. Obviously that doesn’t improve living place securing from terrorists.

Under Putin’s regime the so called ‘first departments’ – KGB branches of personnel supervision and control at work places have been restored. Colonel Ageev from such creation at the Institute of USA and Canada studies in Moscow, notoriously known for case of Igor Sutyagin, had forced him to write the article, that had served a major ‘proof’ of guilty verdict. That colonel’s provocation had turned out for the scholar by 17 years imprisonment.

So while ideological and cultural competition remains – terrorism and diversions have been expanded. Meanwhile human factor in Russia prevails and lives its separate life.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting and eye opening comments. You paint a grim picture and possibly rightly so. New technologies open up all sorts of opportunities for mischief making.

What is clearly lacking in Russia as in other power hungery nations is the slightest signs of real wisdom.

It is the first duty of leaders to make peace. All wars represent a failure of leadership.

Anonymous said...

Russian issue has not been solved

Trying to identify the purpose of Western interest towards Russia’s affairs and mischief-making, I would put shortly: security, moreover - military security. Not economic co-operation or competition, what many polite European leaders reiterate.

I am lucky when persuade a rare foreigner, that Russia emits plenty of risks and threats for the West. That is Russia’s nature and centuries-old tradition. Such continuity has been prolonged by Putin and will be extended by Medvedev. Since recently challenges became more sophisticated, complex and diversified. Besides military components, terrorism and diversions, they will accentuate economic pressure and most of all - information and propaganda tools. Surprisingly, in the latter the West turned out to be most defenseless.

A couple of months ago I talked to a former post communist Czech head of intelligence. He said that growing Russia’s economic and energy influence in Czech Republic and Germany ‘was good for European market because improved competition’. I would speed up putting the Kwajalein radar there – so that they feel out more evidently on which side of a frontline they are. The similar sort of ‘identifying’ radar I would install as soon as possible in Ukraine.

The Russian authorities realize that they have become less legitimate and thus will be more aggressive in fixing them in power.

In Soviet times the Western allies withstood clearly delineated evil concentrated within empire. Now they have to keep a defence against a wide coalition of spread evils, - and that is a substance of ‘indirect wars’ the West wages against hostile fundamentalism in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Russians have learned much in recent years, in particular, re-evaluated the Western most vulnerable exposed points. One of Russia’s ‘advantages’ in such rivalry is provided by the most negligible cost of human lives and rights. Russian bureaucracy, both civilian and military, manipulates by the residents’ lives and deaths without any responsibility. That is a huge resource of Kremlin’s policy at home and abroad. The price of a Russian is much less than a Westerner’s. In this regard Putin feels himself more free than Bush.

These attitudes (of cheap Russian life) Moscow has imposed on the West. One of today’s Russian moral authorities – Sergey Kovalev – revealed that only civil losses in Chechnya comprised 80 000, including 25000 in Grozny capital only. Go to the Imperial War Museum and find that its conflict research department provides figure 3000. Nobody there could explain me its origin. Until London and allies don’t refuse from political correctness – they won’t solve the problem of Putin.

Russia is an enemy for the West because the Russian authorities abuse their citizens like garbage. Here are the roots of dangers for the West itself.