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Guest Post: Important Lessons In Domestic Terrorism
Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,
In the first century AD, the Roman Empire was up to its eyeballs in domestic terrorism.
The biggest threat was a tiny Judaic sect known as the Zealots who routinely conducted public attacks, even against other Jews who didn’t agree with their views.
This is actually where the word ‘zealot’ comes from, and the group constitutes history’s first recorded example of terrorism.
The Zealots knew they could never defeat such a vast Empire… at least, not conventionally.
Instead, their chosen tactic was to create chaos and fear. And for a while they were successful.
Rome finally put down the threat in 74 AD with the siege of Masada. But the idea caught on, and ‘terrorism’ has been with us ever since.
Just in recent days, attacks on civilians have been attempted and/or carried out in Greece, the Philippines, Turkey, Kenya, Taiwan, Iraq, Kosovo, Thailand, Mali, Syria, India, Israel, Nigeria, and the United States.
Here in Indonesia they know a thing or two about domestic terrorism. Over the years, all sorts of religious extremists and separatists waged campaigns in the country.
To draw worldwide attention to their causes, they often conducted attacks specifically against Westerners.
As an example, the JW Marriott Hotel here in Jakarta has been targeted not once, not twice, but three times. Curiously they still have one of the best breakfast buffets in the world…
So what did the Indonesian government do? Why, destroy people’s civil liberties, of course!
Detachment 88 is Indonesia’s special anti-terrorism task force. And go figure, they’re funded by the US government, trained by the CIA, and assisted by US intelligence officers to monitor people’s emails, text messages, and phone calls… all under the auspices of ‘security’.
(My sense is that the US government is ‘field testing’ freedom-sucking counterterrorism measures here in Indonesia before bringing them to the homeland…)
After 10-years, suicide bombings are now on the decline, and the government is crediting the measures they’ve implemented. But this view ignores two obvious points:
1) Indonesia’s economy is in remarkably better shape than it was years ago. Tens of millions of people are being lifted into the middle class and seeing their standards of living improve dramatically.
It’s amazing what a bit of prosperity can do; it doesn’t take much for a young person to realize that having some money and freedom is a better deal than railing against the man and blowing yourself up.
(As an aside, these 50%+ youth unemployment rates in Europe are an epic disaster waiting to happen…)
2) Benjamin Franklin is often quoted as saying that “[t]hose who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
And he did write this, in a letter to the Governor of Pensylvania in 1755. The statement was made in reference to colonists on the frontier who were in danger.
As usual, the state was getting involved… at a high cost.
But Franklin pointed out in his letter that “in the Midst of [the frontier colonists'] Distresses they themselves do not wish us to go farther…” and that “it is next to impossible to guard effectually an extended Frontier…”
He was right. Ultra-committed separatist groups, extremists, and all-around bad guys can always find a soft target.
Guard the airport and they’ll blow up the bus station. Guard the bus station and they’ll take out a public park.
Constant security, paramilitarism, and steady erosion of freedom constitute an enormous price to pay for a false sense of safety against bad people.
Franklin knew this. Let’s just hope that good people heed his wisdom… and have the same respect for liberty as the frontier colonists he wrote about.
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TPTB know this as well...and could care less.
BOHICA
A few more of these types of incidents and they may be forced to change their ways. Maybe for the better but most likely not.
Was that jim Rickards in the pic?
Cant wait for the Rectal Cams!
We need to seriously rethink our approach to terrorism in this country. How can anybody be safe if some idiot can just set off a bomb at any location at any time?! What is our government doing about this?? What measures are being taken to make this country a safer place?!
The wrong ones for sure.
im i the only one dumdfounded by the amount of cops and vehicles and equipment they have .....and all they do is stand around not having a clue....definetly worth everypenny, especially the fat gutted blue shirt marchers on the tube this morn ....ok, were is the cat in the tree....hey stop that guy., he ran a red light.....yea its the foodstamps taking us down, the sec. 8..hold on im thirsty need another sip of kool aid....red..its my favorite...now im getting back under my bed...
The fruits of fear.
Cultivated, manipulated fear.
Well lets see... the government had troops ready, bomb sniffing dogs and just prior to the explosions told the crowd to remain calm it's only a drill - it was like they knew something bad was about the happen. Even if the gov was not involved, I think it's pretty clear they had knowledge that the bombing was going to take place. As fast as they identified these two guys, shot one and a are looking for the one who is at large I think it's pretty clear they knew who they were looking for right away. The father of one says the secret service set up and framed his son. Now the city of Boston is "locked down" and they are doing searches door-to-door? All for one guy? Comon, I think we can see what's happening, who knew it was about to happen, but let it happen in order to further an agenda... i.e., lock down Boston, go door-to-door and get the people used to the police state keeping them safe, coming into their homes, with badges/guns, etc. Any idiot could see the writing on the wall on this one.
Exactly! You just answered the question, "What measures are being taken to make this country a scarier place?"
North Korea leads, and our Dear Leader follows...
That's because no "idiot-proof" system can ever resist a real idiot. And there is absolutely nothing you can do about that.
The more people are free, the less they want to take freedom away from other people. But there is no profit in that, no way for type A personality types to harness the work product of the nation state. No way for elite people to seek rent on infrastructure built by people who lived and died before us. So you should probably create a culture where the criminals have decadent, tax free existances and the enforcers have an opulent, power laden, tax dependant existances. I am talking about crony corporatism of course. The best parts of fascism and communism. Unless you are peacable middle class person who likes that free will stuff for yourself and others.
Did I get the counter-pointless junk because I used too many comma's to describe neo-fuedalism? Hey, even newspeak has to evolve with the times. Its not like the old days when editors of newspapers tried to save money on ink by reducing the grammar defined amount of commas.
So many fucktards, so few bullets.
Hurry, get youself a bayonet!
At least Big Sis has several for each and every one of us.
RFID chips for everyone. And until that's possible, we should all be forced to wear those ankle bracelets they put on people who are just released from prison. It's for the children! And don't forget to chip/bracelet those little fuckers, too.
The "smart" phones have already accomplished that.
Intel has been on THIS aspect for years. Field testing for 'mass consumption'. Uplink to Utah Data Center. Not a 'theory', it's a Fact.
Cell phones have usage & tracking issues (turned off, left behind...). You with and RFID implant on the other hand... Cell phones have served their intended purpose: Set up infrastructure and spread usage. Getting ready for Prime Time.
Why do you think HSBC is advertising "In the future, your DNA will be your data"? How do you spell 'Early Adopter'? Get the pic?
See what happens when you're not (TPTB are not) such simplistic, 1D thinker? Welcome to 1984.
Why not simply put taggants of some nature in your Campbells soup. I'm sure Monsanto is already incorporating something of that nature into their next Frankencorn crop..........
buy 1.6bill rnds of ammo and tanks. and store them somewhere.
There is no more dangerous creature on this planet than the human that truly believes that he/she has nothing to lose. What should the government do? They should get the fuck out of people's lives, quit manufacturing terrorists by killing the innocent, stop subsidizing laziness, stop rewarding greed, and quit fucking with the economy.
If you're from the states you may remember that old Sienfeld episode where George realizes that everything he has done so far in his life has been wrong, and that all he needs to do to be happy and successful is to do the exact opposite of what would come naturally to him. That's what the government needs to do, the exact opposite of everything they're currently doing.
Ah. Ok. So they should let the bomber go.
One of my favorite episodes. Here is a start:
1 - Strictly adhere to the United States Constitution.
2 - Eliminate the Deparment of Homeland security.
3 - Stop the 'War on drugs'
4 - Banish the income tax
5. Place a finite limit on fractional reserve banking.
6. Abolish the Fed!
Well, the obvious thing is to require everyone to carry a GPS tracker, RFC and biometric ID. Also to have all communication monitored. You could call it a Smart ID tracking system.
If you wanted to sell it to the populace you'd call it a smartphone.
Comment of the day!
You may get some down arrows. People don't want to know certain things.
And...
You could give them forums where they could post outright sedition against the .gov, while thinking they were anonymous.
"What measures are being taken to make this country a safer place?!"
Measures that will NOT be taken:
1. Understanding that Allah comes before country
2. That if you are non-Muslim your life has as much value as a dead dog. And if you are an Atheist or Agnostic you are lower than dog poop.
3. You can build a mosque in the USA or Europe, but you will dead before you build a church in a Muslim country.
4. They are winning slowing but surely as Western countries, including the USA tighten up freedoms and build enormous domestic armies to respond to the Muslim version of Kamikaze pilots.
I'm Barack Obama(my mom was a CIA insert in Indonesia...and that's where I got my own start in counter-intel) and I approve this message.
I'm Rahm Emmanuel(my dad was a Hagganah terrorist who liked to blow up civilians...and that's where I got the inspiration for my own career!)and I approve this message.
I'm Dick Cheney(don't know who exactly was my mommy or daddy...and that's where it all started for me!)and I approve this message.
Kayman...your return flight to Tel Aviv is waiting on the tarmac....please board now. It will definitely make Merika a safer place.
We need to seriously rethink our approach to financial terrorism in this country. How can anybody be safe if some idiot can just set off a fiscal bomb at any budget at any time?! What is our judiciary doing about this?? What measures are being taken to make this country a safer place?!
Probably we just need to spend more $$ on departmanet of homeland security, I would feel warm and fuzzy going to sleep at night with a silkscreened image of Janet Napolitano on my pillow.
You got IBS? Use one of these (http://gopro.com/) a long stick and a truck load of KY....and good luck!
And if you have a CLOSE friend, one of these (http://gopro.com/camera-mounts/helmet-front-mount).
The only thing that will come out of Boston will be cries for moar security and moar woar.
Go outside of ZH for a while and people are practically begging to have their entire country turned into a gigantic prison in the name of safety, and now that those Damned Dirty Chechen Muslims are involved, we'll have another front in our perpetual global "war on terrrrrrrror."
No good will come from any of this.
The "good" that will come of this is the majority in both parties in Washington agreeing that, for national security interests, no military or domestic spending can be cut whatsover. Delay the sequester, cancel all cuts. Ben, press print
Duh, yeah! Why do you think they were can-kicking all this time?
To buy Time for things unfolding this year (May-Nov time frame).
And that's why they will go down! They would be well advised to care, because we will not capitulate, nor will we let them terrorize us. They shall NOT prevail!
Even though not applicable to say, the case of Timothy McVeigh, the best defense -generally- against this kind of thing is a strong, common culture which A) we used to have to a much greater extent and B) is the complete opposite of the intent and spirit of "multiculturalism".
The bomber's declaration that: "I don't have a single American friend, I don't understand them" is not the hallmark of assimilation.
We are all very much NOT benefiting from his "unique perspective" now.
multiculturalism. Another PC ism conjured up by weak minds. Most foreign cultures are the antithesis of Western culture.
While they live off Western generosity as supplied by Western governments, they come to destroy their host and perpetuate Medieval thinking. Islam is front and center.
There is room for great “diversity” broadly speaking but you really want everyone more or less on the same page in the civics department.
Remember e pluribus unum?
"Western culture"...another oxymoron dreamed up by the people what gave us "Judeo-Christian" values...
western 'generosity' is pretty much confined to passing taxpayer $ to the tiny terrorist statelet in the middle east which parasitizes the weak minds in the West and then destroys the host...kinda the antithesis of your 'thesis' Mr Sionist Troll.
Please feel free to pile on for maximum effect whilst the latest psy-op is still goin strong!
+1 Psychos with nukes and mass media.
So are a few others from that region of the world.
Sadly I nailed this prediction a few days ago...
Senator Lautenberg for S. 649 to invoke new controls on gun powder (black powder and smokeless powder).
Sadly ppl like you don't realize They read ZH too.
Mind your Ps & Qs.
Yeah, the concept "not letting a crisis go to waste" and of outlawing what was used to make the Boston bombs was really a mental leap on my part.
This sure has been a perfect practice run for martial law. Boston and Watertown are under complete lockdown.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-15/how-obama-wants-to-chang...
Grand Theft Auto
Bitchez
More like "Grand Auto(matic) Theft", no?
It's like the videogame series has finally come to life
You're wrong. I just went outside and tried to hijack my neighbours car. It was locked! That never happened to me in the game. ;-)
Ben might have known this, but the sheep now are to stupid to read history and so are oblivious to the real threat
I know of NO other country in the Western hemisphere, where the masses are soooo willfully uninformed, as in the US.
Somehow all of this was the fault of Bush, the Republicans, the sequester or the insensitive members of the Tea Party. If everybody registered their guns, this never would not have happened.
(sarc)
well currently, we are apparently neither safe nor free...
This is actually where the word ‘zealot’ comes from, and the group constitutes history’s first recorded example of terrorism.
False. The Assyrians invented terrorism and mastered it. Johan hated them and was fleeing across the sea after God told him to warn the assyerians to turn back to God. That's when the whale swallowed him.
was this before or after the ten plagues with which the Israelites terrorized the poor Egyptian people? I'd say ban staffs
Pass a law against burning bushes; see how that works.
I dated one of those (burning bush) at college. Grades sucked for a whole semester.
And so... we reach the pinnicle.
Looks like the plagues were about 800 years before Johan. Was God the first terrorist?
The first Terrorists of true psychological terror were Shamans and Priests. All else came from their world view, fiat decrees and laws.
Dear Hypocritical, fascist scumbags, Please stop saving me. Thanks.
Panopticon Simon.
Boston has been shut down for a few hours now over 1 guy who may actually be in NY.
If incoming foreign Terrorists, plus soon to include "unemployed", American Gen X & Y'ers were really smart....they would be killing corrupted Washington Politicians and New York Banksters, not American Civilians.
food for thought
This was actually not bad for a Simon Black piece!
yes the urge to buy an alpaca sweater and move to cheapenzuela has diminished but this doesn't come close to making up for his last puff piece, he panders
Agreed Dick Head. Not usually a fan of Mr. Black's but he did a nice job with this one.
To .gov and DHS: Leave me the fuck alone, I will take care of myself and my family.
Analysts measure this activity by using the Chained Terror Index, or CTI, which substitutes targets used by the wealthy, like airports, for targets used by the impoverished, like bus stations.
you do not have to be as wise as Ben Franklin, to understand this......
Put this in your pipes and smoke it:
All societies in every era produce disaffected people, disaffected angry young people, and gangs of some sort.
What is important is the attitude of the gangsters' social milieu--their spouses, parents, children and peers. Do they support and celebrate the violent elements in their midst? Or do they counsel patience and hard work, or even turn them in?
The key to that dynamic is in large measure the stake that ordinary people have in their society. That, in turn, rests largely on the legitimacy of the political system, faith in the rule of law, and the social contract generally.
Hence, it is not only ineffectual but highly counterproductive to undermine the social contract in the face of violent acts.
Further, it is in fact those at the very top of the system of power who bear the greatest responsibility, not for any specific act of violence however motivated, but for the overall legitimacy of their own power and their fidelity to the principles upon which that legitimacy rests.
So, the corruption and criminality at the top of the US, European, Japanese and other 'rich' political structures can only corrode the social fabric that should render acts of violence inappropriate and ineffectual.
There. Listen up ye defenders of the status quo: the clock is indeed ticking and the peaceful citizens who have been so foully betrayed won't be distracted--by terrorists or by bread and circuses.
As for these particular people, it's not possible yet to know much about their motives or ties to organizations. In fact they seem to be the perfect ciphers up to this point. Lone wolves? Fundamentalists? Mercenaries? The perfect international question marks, straight from central casting.
Wow Simon finally got something right. The buffet is bomb!
Seriously the level of terrorism in Indonesia has dropprd, in part because of some heavy handed tactics,US intel and a rising economy.....but i do not want to go back and i will not store gold there(assuming it survives a boating accident.....i have got to develop a better eye for buying boats).
The most important lesson we could learn from domestic terrorism is that we are not at war with Islam.........
The thing is after 9/11 people stopped going to the mall. So it is worth taking some kind of “action” to try and reduce the effects a climate of fear has on the economy.
However the “action” only needs to be a thin veneer. It doesn’t actually have to change the security situation at all. All it has to do is to convince the masses that they are OK.
What the US government has done is they have tried to change the security situation, they are spending vast resources and changing the laws in an attempt to demonstrate action. Sadly this is precisely the wrong thing to do. They should not respond to terrorists in any way. Look how Norway handled Breivik. They didn’t change a thing, they didn’t introduce any new surveillance and they didn’t introduce any new laws curbing people’s rights. And guess what? People accepted it and their economy did not contract, they didn’t stop going to the mall.
The US government by taking action to fight terrorism is only serving to make terrorism more effective by adding to the fear it creates and introducing uncertainty and an admission of mortality of the state. No state should change anything following acts of terror. Nation states should remain above the actions of individuals, the moment a state engages these people by shifting position is the moment that State begins to decline. You cede power to terrorists simply by engaging them.
Trust me on this, we had the IRA for 35 years and for 30 years we fought them toe to toe. Terrorists crave attention and if you simply wave them away and carry on as before their power base soon erodes and they are revealed as vulnerable idealistic organizations lacking any real longevity or influence.
They need influence over their enemy to be able to continue, allow terrorists to influence the state and the terrorists are winning. Accept their existence as a continued nuisance and they crumble and fade.
looks like we may have the possibilitie of two dead/captured terrsts, and an up market on the same day: Please return to teh exuberant/everything will workout mindset, be sure to call broker and buy America so as to post another week of equity inflows/great rotation. MSM: please be sure to pat each other on the back for remaining bullish(it) and just the top notch coverage of the Boston tragedy.
The best media attention one can get~
Bomb the hell out out 500 people in Lobadntyuortghuy in Kryonovbinuntistan and nobody gives a fuck.
Bomb and kill 3 people in the USA and your cause gets free tv, radio, newspaper publicity for months.
So...
The best media attention one can get~
Bomb the hell out out 500 people in Lobadntyuortghuy in Kryonovbinuntistan and nobody gives a fuck.
Bomb and kill 3 people in the USA and your cause gets free tv, radio, newspaper publicity for months.
So...
The important point to grasp is the Federal Government has no power delegated to it to alter, abridge, amend, curtail or limit anybody's natural rights, and no amount of voters has the right to alter, abridge, amend, curtail or limit anybody's natural rights.
If I don't have the right to control my neighbor, what gives anybody the right to control me. Only by consent and the people are consenting without knowing it.
The live TV news WCBV is interviewing a bomb squad cop in Boston and he just said that in the future there will be random checks of backpacks among the general population, he said "this is the new way we live in freedom".
http://www.kaltura.com/index.php/kwidget/wid/_557781/uiconf_id/6893702/e...
As usual Simon Black totally misses the boat. I rarely read his posts. This was obviously a shadow government intelligence operation and the Chechyans are the standard patsies in the standard MO for these false flag operations. I think our congresscritter will now weigh a bill to ban trash recepticles to be enforced with the two billion rounds of "manshredder" hollowpoint pistol ammunition and lead by the dyke-in-chief. If it weren't so tragic, it would be a hoot.
Terrorist are made not born.
Since the US has such vast tenacles do the following:
1. Aprrehend or kill the terrorists.
2. If apprehended, fast trial and public exectution
3. Seize all assets (in any) to pay to vicitms
4. If they are here on a visa, they are guests, round up all their family who are here on a visa and deport them back to where the come from, but first sieze all of the families assests worldwide to pay for the sins of the family.
Why punish American citizens for a terrorists action. Punish those who had the most influence on them, and who brought them here in the first place.
If we had siezed the assets of the entire bin laden family, back in 1993 or on 2001, I think there would be a drought in funding for terrorists.. maybe I am niave, but it is worth a shot, that is for sure.. Instead we arranged a special flight for them home. Just like what is happening with this other saudi now.
And don't forget: GWB circa 2001 "I will not stop. I will not rest, until Osama Bin Laden is brought to justice" GWB a few years later. "I don't know where he is. To be honest ... I don't spend that much time thinking about it"
The American health care system kills thousands every day through negligence and denying services but we don't have a war on overpriced insurance and incompetent doctors.
Gotta keep things in perspective, ya know?
Why does America have so many enemies. We are nice people who treat everyone around the world fairly and with respect.
I learned this in civics class.
"...constitute an enormous price to pay for a false sense of safety against bad people...."
the bad people are the cia, fbi, dhs, and other assorted nazi goons of the bush crime syndicate...