9/11

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 03:20:02 GMT

The symbolic 5th year anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11 has almost passed. I watched a little of the coverage of this event on most, if not all, news channels. Apart from the President's address which I believe focused on Iraq and the dead horse of "staying the course", most shows went on and on about how tragic the whole event was. And just in case there still lingered some doubt in the minds of viewers, they brought on all and sundry to testify to the horror and the tragedy that was 9/11 - right from what they were doing at the time to what were their thoughts blah blah to saved in the nick of time survivors. Though the sentiments are appreciated and the loss of life is mourned, I can't help but to think that 9/11 was America's doing - the ghosts they helped create are haunting them. Their continued war mongering strategies have divided nations, contributed to the killing of hundreds of thousands all across the globe all in an effort to keep the single biggest industry alive - weapons. Another aspect to keeping this industry alive is the country's oil interests in the middle east. What puts me off is their arrogance in portraying to the world that islamic terrorism was born on that day. Until that day, the threat it posed and its effect was merely a myth, a fleeting thought in the shadows. The suffering endured by all its victims until then was moot and was discounted as merely something of the past - a past that did not matter until then because the US was not part of this "war on terror". Overnight, the US became the poster child for a victim of terrorism and alliances were forged with total disregard for history with a blind slogan - "With us or against us". Admittedly, this war cry galvanized most of the world into some sort of action. The rest, as they say, is history. Don't even get me started on "The leader of the free world" shindig.

9/11 was a huge cultural shock to the spirit of the average american - the symbolism of the targets are undeniable and this was the first time war came knocking so close to home. Of course, I am not even going into how and why militant islam is so vitriolic towards the US. Thats the job of the experts!

Atanu Dey weighs in astutely, as always, with this post.

Very wordy, but written with typical British flair, set of articles by respected journo Martin Amis written almost like a novel that he says he was contemplating writing.

Black Gold or Pipe Dream? Pt. 2

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 20:31:18 GMT

Following up on a previous post on oil and keeping in mind the recent surge in oil prices, courtesy Katrina, there is growing concern in the world about this precious life line that the entire world hinges on. Follow the link to a very intereting article by Peter Maas, a contributing author on the NY Times. [link]

Frost Bite: News and politics

9/11

Black Gold or Pipe Dream? Pt. 2