Westerners have a deep history of a culture of myths (see Joseph Campbell [9]). We love to believe in Santa Claus, "The American Dream," the Tooth Fairy, housing market always goes up, and countless others. So it's easy for us to be 'terrorized' by a myth; that hiding behind every corner are evil 'terrorists' waiting to blow themselves up because 'they hate our freedoms.'
Already, evidence surfaces that doesn't match our traditional image for what a terrorist act should look like, as pointed out by George Washington's article on ZH: [10]
What do you think? False flag [11]? Light-skinned, clean-shaven ISIS jihadis [12]who went undercover to carry out the terrorist attack? Or local Europeans who were radicalized into jihad?
Postscript: The Mirror also notes that the terrorists looked like professional soldiers:
“I would describe him as tall, with dark hair and also quite muscular.
“They looked like soldiers or mercenaries and carried the whole thing out like a military operation.
Military operation or not, let's take a step back how we got here, for those who can read and don't have a TV.
World War 2 and it's climax defined the modern age and the century. It is the most significant event, historically speaking for the last 500 - 1000 years. How this event shaped the markets and modern capitalism; specifically - global trade, Forex, emerging markets, the concept model of the nation-state, and in one word - a complete paradigm shift [13].
Before WW2, nation-states waged war - these wars were all different but had several distinct characteristics. There was always a winner, the winner basically wrote the terms of the agreement to end the war (taking various resources or land for themselves); it was usually financed through taxes or Rothschild type loans, and both sides were well defined. Even when mercenaries participated, it was clear whose side was who. Also it was clear, what the war was about - there was no 'false flag' events. People mostly participated in war for survival, because they were forced to, or needed money and enlisted, or because their king told them to and they obey. There was no TV, internet, or cameras attached to missiles.
After WW2, only one single country remained intact, with infinite industrial capacity that easily switched to the consumer economy. The United States of America had lost millions of lives in WW2, but the US was never invaded, factories remained, cities were not burned and bombed, a baby boom quickly expanded the population. Resources were plentiful, and for 20 years the US was basically the only industrial superpower in the world. This eventually led to the US Dollar based global Forex [14] & payments system as we have today. Breton Woods certainly would not have been in New Hampshire had it not been for this post WW2 dominance. For all its benefits, this circumstantial gift left with it a seed of destruction; the military industrial complex.
Because now for the first time in history - war became a business. Corporate America knew how to profit from war, in all manners. Wall St. cozied up to Washington to form what would become the most powerful alliance of business & government in history (that ironically was a lot stronger form of Facism that these same forces destroyed in Europe a generation prior).
The peace after WW2 presented a problem for the military industrial complex - if there was no war, how could they profit from the war machine? Enter Vietnam and George Morrison (father of Doors singer Jim Morrison): [15]
Daniel Ellsberg [16], who was on duty in the Pentagon [17] the night of August 4, receiving messages from the ship, reported that the ship was on a secret electronic warfare support measures [18]mission (codenamed "DESOTO [19]") near Northern Vietnamese territorial waters.[12] [20] On July 31, 1964, USS Maddox [21] had begun its intelligence collection mission in the Gulf of Tonkin. Captain George Stephen Morrison [22] (father ofDoors [23] singer Jim Morrison [24]) was in command of local American forces from his flagship [25] USS Bon Homme Richard [26]. Maddox was under orders not to approach closer than eight miles (13 km) from the North's coast and four miles (6 km) from Hon Nieu island.[13] [27] When the SOG commando raid was being carried out against Hon Nieu, the ship was 120 miles (190 km) away from the attacked area.[13] [27]
So now we had a nice little war, where we could sell bell helicopters, and created the modern model for making 'war business.' After Vietnam it was easy to create an enemy. Fast forward several conflicts and enter the ultimate enemy: Terrorists. Terrorists are the dream of Neocons, warmongers, and anyone profiting from the war machine - because they are not connected to any 'country' - are always changing, nearly impossible to identify, have motives no one clearly understands, and can easily be bribed and manipulated to carry out the whims of Washington (in the case of Washington supported ISIS, to disrupt the Assad regime who has been on the black list since Libya.) Who are Terrorists? They can be anyone, operate anywhere, and always can be blamed on any mistakes made. Plane crash, false flag - must be Terrorists! They are the perfect enemy for the 'war machine'. And the middle east - a perfect playground. "Washington" now can be replaced with some proper term for 'global alliance' enter recently to this game Russia, just learning how profitable war can be.
Because practically, war is outdated. A conventional war between any 2 nuclear powers would only create utter devastation, calculating which side would be more devastated is pointless, as the fallout would spread around the globe. Also, countries such as Russia, the US, Germany, UK, have no real state enemies because of this, so keeping and maintaining a standing army of any kind - completely wasteful (except to keep the domestic population controlled by fear and opression, and the occasional cleansing of the genetic herd via in theater operations). Hence the need for terrorists.
In other words, false flag or not - Terrorists are the last frontier for the war machine created (and thus the modern Forex system). It's impossible to kill them, as they are an idea. To end 'terrorism', we must end the war machine - dismantling this is very tricky! Who are the real terrorists, suicide bombers, or news anchors constantly 'terrorizing' the population by making them afraid and worried around every corner a bomb will explode. If we can overcome this huge mental challenge, we can really create a global panacea, a world without war, without currencies, without fraud.
Just like with any system, the war machine needs our support. To stop it - we need to stop being afraid, stop believing in it! Stop participating in it! (But that's not practical, because we like it. It's entertainment!) So the philosophical question of the day is: Do you believe in Terrorists? At least have some decency if you do - don't tell this fairy tale to your children. Maybe they'll grow up in a better world.
Or to quote George Carlin, let's accept it as a form of entertainment: [28]
The odds of your being killed by a terrorist are practically zero. So I say, relax and enjoy the show.
You have to be realistic about terrorism. Ya gotta be a realist: Certain groups of people – Muslim fundamentalists, Christian fundamentalists, Jewish fundamentalists, and just plain guys from Montana – are going to continue to make life in this country very interesting for a long, long time. That’s the reality. Angry men in combat fatigue talking to God on a two-way radio and muttering incoherent slogans about freedom are eventually going to provide us with a great deal of entertainment.
Especially after your stupid fuckin economy collapses all around you, and the terrorists come out of the woodwork. And you’ll have anthrax in the water supply and sarin-gas in the air conditioners; there’ll be chemical and biological suitcase bombs in every city, and I say, “Enjoy it, relax! Enjoy the show! Take a fuckin chance. Put a little fun in your life.”
To me, terrorism is exciting. It’s exciting! I think the very idea that someone might set off a bomb in Macy’s and kill several hundred people is exciting and stimulating, and I see it as a form of entertainment! Entertainment that’s all it is. Yeah! But – but I also know most Americans are soft, frightened, unimaginative they don’t realize there’s such a thing as dangerous fun. And they certainly don’t recognize good entertainment when they see it. I have always been willing to put myself at great personal risk for the sake of entertainment. And I’ve always been willing to put you at great personal risk for the same reason.
As far as I’m concerned, all of this airport security, all the searches, the screening, the cameras, the question it’s just one more way of reducing your liberty and reminding you that they can fuck with you any time they want, as long as you put up with it. As long as you put up with it. Which means, of course, any time they want. Because that’s what Americans do now. They’re always willing to trade away a little of their freedom for the feeling, the illusion–of security. -GEORGE CARLIN
If state-sponsored armies left the middle east permanently (Now speaking of the US, UK, 'coalition of the willing' and now Russia), including the US support of Israel, 'terrorism' as we know it at least, would cease to exist. We've been sold a load of snake oil, that somewhere lurking in the shadows of these elephant oil fields, are crazed muslims who believe in killing infidels. Nothing could be farther from the truth!
When a company is discovered for wrongdoing - often a boycott can succeed in getting their attention (the other alternative, being lawsuits & litigation [29]). It is not different with the war machine. It feeds off our energy, our fears, which determines our need to finance and support the military through taxes and other means (and supports our local TV companies through advertisements). The point is that there is no winning 'the war on Terrorism' - it's a paradox. It's a genius invention by the war machine akin to "Terminator" films - now for every $1 we put into the military the profit can be $2 or $3 - because the more wars we launch in the middle east, the more terrorists are created, thus a need for even more security & war spending. If even a small % of our tax dollars was funneled through various CIA shells to finance ISIS [30](even if the purpose was to overthrow Assad or other Terrorists) - technically speaking it is financed by the American taxpayer (at least in part). Again, technically speaking - that would put the US Government on the OFAC list (which they publish) [31]- and would be severe AML violations. All these paradoxes are the ultimate 'fog of war' to enable the war machine to go on, now a self-replicating artificial intelligence of its own. The ultimate paradox - this situation has made it impossible to stand up against the defense industry (literally) - ensuring it's nearly infinite survival.
Or - here's an investing idea - if you think this is all a bunch of left wing nonsense - time to go long Defense stocks! And at least you won't have to worry about any class action lawsuits [29] or other problems with an angry and disgruntled public (they can be disapeared by outsourced foreign sub-contractors).
Think about this next time you're listening to 'riders on the storm'.
"Riders On The Storm"
Riders on the storm
Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm
There's a killer on the road
His brain is squirmin' like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If you give this man a ride
Sweet family will die
Killer on the road, yeah