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Although, I have always doubted the omni-tentacular, ubiquitous, far-reaching character ascribed to Al Qaeda as an all-powerful international terrorist conspira
by abalashov 16y ago
Although, I have always doubted the omni-tentacular, ubiquitous, far-reaching character ascribed to Al Qaeda as an all-powerful international terrorist conspiracy. It's not that I doubt its existence per se, it's just that I know damn well that every shadowy international conspiracy ever raised by any government has been vastly exaggerated into a comically gassy caricature of its real self, vide the International Communist Conspiracy of yore.
Edit: In a way, bin Laden's death is probably a net loss for the American military and foreign policy establishment (does there even need to be an 'and' there?). So much propaganda mileage was squeezed from him that I am sure there is some ambivalence as to whether he's more valuable dead as some bullshit "vindication" vs. alive as a perpetual bogeyman.
- hasenj 16y ago> I have always doubted the omni-tentacular, ubiquitous, far-reaching character ascribed to Al Qaeda as an all-powerful international terrorist conspiracy In the Arab world, this image is ascribed to the Zionist-Right-Wing-American conspiracy. Some radical conspiracy theorists even claim that all current revolutions in the Arab world are plans by the Zionists to change Arab regimes without resorting to a full-scale military invasion.
- abalashov 16y agoWhich is strange, given that most of the imperiled or 'changed' regimes are not especially anti-Israeli. I mean in reality, apart from the perfunctory rhetorical barbs for domestic consumption.
- hasenj 16y agoSome of these conspiracy theorists are themselves a part of the propaganda machine for the various ruling regimes, but what troubles me is that some people actually find these ideas plausible: "You know brother, the Americans are not asleep like us, they calculate things well".
- agilo 16y agoI'm bracing myself for the next bogeyman. Let's hope his introduction won't be as dramatic as Ben Laden's.
- Jach 16y agoBin Laden's wasn't all that dramatic. I'm more worried about Kim Jong-Il deciding he's had enough and launching a full-scale assault.
- peteforde 16y agoKim Jong-Il is the current most likely way that everyone reading this dies. More specifically, when he dies things are going to get very nasty as the various potential successors fight for what's left of the republic. If you don't think this is a credible position, feel free to let me know why the US military is on high alert nearby?
- abalashov 16y agoKim Jong-Il is the current most likely way that everyone reading this dies. That's a bit much.
- khafra 16y agoThe Democratic People's Republic of Korea has a lot of artillery aimed at population centers of the Republic of Korea. But most HN readers do not spend significant amounts of time in population centers of the Republic of Korea.
- cheez 16y agoKim Jong-Il leads a very good life. He has no desire to risk it. Look to Iran, if anything.
- bitwize 16y agoMy suspicion is that Al-Qaeda is like Anonymous, organization-wise. It does both them and the media a lot of good to leave the impression that they are a vast hierarchical organization, when really they are a loose association of radicals with common goals.