<nettime> We the Blog Update: Cold War II - Attack of the Clones

[Experimental Party <press@experimentalparty.org>]

(((((((( We the Blog Update: Cold War II - Attack of the Clones ))))))))

                              April  7, 2003

Patrick Lichty
Director of the Bureau for the Dissemination of Metastructures and 
Media Metaphors
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The general thought on the war being sold by the Administration and
corporate media is that the result of the conflict is the limitation of
the feared meme of the time, "Weapons of Mass Distruction"  ("WMD").  
However, as I sit here, it occurs to me that the only way that any a
country or faction has a hope of counterbalancing US military technology
rests in two methodologies; namely, asymmetrical warfare and WMD
proliferation.

The general thought on the war being sold by the Administration and
corporate media is that the result of the conflict is the limitation of
the feared meme of the time, "Weapons of Mass Distruction"  ("WMD").  
However, as I sit here, it occurs to me that the only way that any a
country or faction has a hope of counterbalancing US military technology
rests in two methodologies; namely, asymmetrical warfare and WMD
proliferation.

Since the topic of A. warfare is fairly well documented at this time,
let's consider WMD.  In fact, let's focus on Nuclear proliferation.  Why?
In considering chemical and biological agents, the area of effect is far
less than a nuclear weapon, and they have far more success for the enemy
to use some form of counteragent.  Nukes are the prime deterrent - the
Cold War taught us that.

However, in the Second Cold War, the potential adversaries are not a
monolithic nation state like the Soviet Union, but a number of smaller
states, hypothetically such as Iran if they get their reactor producing
fissible material, definitely North Korea, and potentially any country
that can manage to cut a deal at an opportune time for old Soviet
materials, or even sales from N. Korea, if President Il considers it
advantageous.

So, instead of a stabilization of the global milieu, the potential outcome
is a sort of WMD Whack-A-Mole.  Perhaps I'm being a bit paranoid, but as
Uncle Bill Burroughs once said, "Being Paranoid only means having all the
facts".

Actually, I hope I don't.

Patrick Lichty
Director of the Bureau for the Dissemination of Metastructures and 
Media Metaphors

http://wetheblog.org/archive/000027.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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