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Behind the Headlines
by Justin Raimondo
Antiwar.com
December 31, 2001
FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS
Hope you had a merry Christmas � 'cause it's gonna be a Satanic new
year
My last New Year's column contained a statement that stands out, in
retrospect, as a prediction and a warning that, unfortunately, went
unheeded. America, I wrote,
"Stands astride the world, a global Gulliver lording it over the
Lilliputians. But at the apogee of its power, the US is subject to
the irony of world hegemony � increased vulnerability."
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES
Little did I know how vulnerable. Like most Americans, I never imagined that, less
than a year later, we would all be staring in disbelief at the smoking ruins of the
Pentagon � and a good part of downtown Manhattan. But
I knew something was amiss: "In the coming year," I predicted, "the profiteers of
empire will be especially busy selling the whole panoply of 'good works' the US is
performing overseas," especially in "the Middle East, wh
ere we are ostensibly fighting another bogey of the modern world, 'terrorism.' Whether
the American people are buying it is another question."
OVER THE HORIZON
Well, if they weren't buying it before, now they certainly are � and with a vengeance.
As the US goes rampaging through Central Asia in search of Osama bin Laden and his
Terrorist International, the War Party has been giv
en a blank check � and they're diddling over how much to make it out for. But you
didn't have to be a certified seer, a Nostradamus or a Jean Dixon, to see what was
coming over the horizon. Reiterating the Clintonian reco
rd � a new military intervention every few months � I wrote:
"These days, the brazen belligerence of the US goes way beyond arrogance and all the
way to hubris, the old Greek conception of a pride so overweening that it literally
begs to be toppled, like Icarus felled for daring to
approach the sun."
ICARUS UNREPENTANT
Yet Icarus hasn't learned his lesson. Still reaching for that bright orb, he doesn't
realize he's been blinded. Lashing out, he stumbles about in the darkness, bellowing
like a wounded giant, and wreaking devastation acro
ss the globe. Already the ripple effect caused by the US military campaign has caused
disruption throughout the region, with India moving quickly to destabilize Pakistan.
The nutball Hindu nationalists who hold sway in Ne
w Delhi have recently acquired a cache of new weapons from Israel � and don't think
they won't use them.
A WARNING
India and Israel have a lot in common: not only a mutual hatred of Islam, but also an
expressed willingness to use nuclear weapons. It was not for nothing, after all, that
Israel recently admitted what it has always offic
ially denied (even though everyone knew the story of Mordecai Vanunu): yes, they have
nukes. But why admit this now, at the height of the crisis, unless it is meant as a
warning that they won't hesitate to use them?
THE BRAHMIN BOMB
On the other side of the Middle East, New Delhi's Brahmins are wielding the nuclear
stick more openly, explicitly threatening Pakistan with the unthinkable. At issue is
the Vale of Kashmir, a section of Central Asia so mo
untainous and inaccessible that it makes the terrain of Afghanistan look like a golf
course. India has always claimed it, in spite of its overwhelmingly Muslim population.
If India allowed a real national referendum, Kash
mir would doubtless go with Pakistan, but New Delhi's "Great Power" conceit would
never permit that, and so the region has been in a constant state of war since the
partition of India and Pakistan more than 50 years ago.
IMPERIAL INDIA
>From this lair of Islamic "terrorism," various Islamic tribes and groups have
>launched attacks on India proper, and the Brahmins, asserting their regional
>hegemony, have decided to follow the good example of the United St
ates in pursuing "terrorism" to its source. Since the Indians aver � without offering
any proof � that the terrorist attacks have been organized and directed by Islamabad,
and that these groups are little more than proxie
s for Pakistan, in effect a de facto state of war already exists between the two
nuclear-armed nations. And the conflict is rapidly spreading�.
THE RIPPLE EFFECT
The news that China has moved its troops up to the border with India should have hit
the headlines like a thunderclap. The dominoes are falling fast, and even rippling
outward to the edge of the world, where North Korea �
starving, desperate, and demented � teeters on the brink. The "mystery ship" that
invaded Japanese waters and was sunk by the Japanese Defense Force sent shockwaves
through Japan, and globalized this perilous moment.
ON THE BRINK
Are we standing on the brink of World War III? It all depends on just how crazy are
the Hindu nationalists who rule an increasingly bizarre and militant India. Perhaps
not all of them are particular devotees of Kali, godd
ess of destruction � all I know is that Kali holds a central place in the Hindu
pantheon, and she no doubt has lots of fans. Here, for example, is an Associated Press
story detailing the mindset of the people of Jaisalmer
, India, who live near the border with Pakistan, who are "aching for war":
"'Bring on another war, we are ready,' shouts Jagdish Prasad Vasa, a craggy shopkeeper
who has lived through the three wars between India and Pakistan since independence
from Britain in 1947. His war cries draw similar ch
ants from the old turbaned men drinking sweet tea at the foot of the sandcastle-like
fort.
"'The Jaisalmeris are warriors by nature, always on alert and never afraid to fight,'
says Vasa, spitting out juice from his 'gutkha,' a concoction of tobacco, betel nut
and spices. 'It's time to put Pakistan down, for go
od.'"
KALI CALLS
We've heard all this highfalutin' theorizing about how Islam, at least in its Wahabist
incarnation, is the equivalent of "Islamo-fascism," but how much more explicit can you
get than deifying the concept of Destruction? I
f I were the Pakistanis, I wouldn't rule out the distinct possibility of an Indian
first strike � would you?
PERFIDIOUS INDIA
By even raising the threat to begin with, New Delhi is announcing to the world that
the proximity of US troops in the region is absolutely no deterrent. Remember that,
during the Cold War, the Indians were generally pro-R
ussian, and their hatred of America has by no means abated. Pakistan, on the other
hand, has stood by the US, with General Pervez Musharraf risking the peace and
stability of his own country to root out Al Qaeda. What has
India done to fight the bin Ladenites?
INDO-ISRAELI ALLIANCE
Nothing except take advantage of the crisis to pursue revanchist land claims and
threaten our primary ally in the region with nuclear annihilation. They are about as
helpful as Israel, with whom they just signed a big arm
s deal. The Indo-Israeli alliance doubles the chances of World War III starting in the
Middle East. If Ariel Sharon doesn't succeed in provoking it on his end, then the
worshippers of Shiva the Destroyer have their chance
in the East. After all, Lord Shiva is often depicted wearing a necklace of human
skulls around his neck. It may not be this year, but surely by the next we will see a
nuclear exchange in that part of the world � unless s
omething is done to stop it.
OSAMA IN KASHMIR
The great danger, right now, is that Osama � reported to be somewhere in the wilds of
Pakistan � may already be seeking refuge in Kashmir. If that is the case, then he will
have deposited himself right at the epicenter of
the region's geopolitical fault-line � in which case anything can and will happen.
RAIMONDAMUS SPEAKS
Look, I don't want to write another "I told you so" column � really I don't � but in
researching this piece I reread all my New Year's columns, or, rather, both of them,
and I have to say I was a little frightened by the
one dated December 31, 1999, "Millennial Madness Around the World." I had completely
forgotten about it, as I have all the others. After all, I write three times a week,
usually at length, and it's a defense mechanism, re
ally, a way to keep going by constantly clearing out the old to make way for the new.
In any case, I took a look at it again, for the first time since writing it, and it
was clear that I had foreseen the new spirit of the
age, if not the full horror of its defining moment:
"If the millennium madness that has gripped the world in the weeks leading up to this
climactic night is a portent of things to come, then the 21st century promises to be
even crazier, bloodier, and more tyrannical than t
he last. Let's get past the official optimism and all the Panglossian hype about how
the ubiquity of the Internet, free trade, and capital-D Democracy are going to usher
in a global utopia: if we project the present state
� and mood � of the world into the future, then, as Bette Davis put it in All About
Eve: 'Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night.'"
A SORE SPOT
I even got the geographical details of my dark vision right, pointing specifically to
the Middle East as one of the persistent "sore spots" of the world. If we judge how
some of the more troublesome peoples of the world a
re planning on celebrating � or not celebrating � the New Year, then clearly, I wrote,
the new millennium is not going to be party time. Consider Saudi Arabia, where:
"Sheik Abdullah bin Jabrain, a leading Muslim cleric, flatly declared that
'celebrating the holidays of the infidels is not allowed, even if its [sic] out of
courtesy, because they are not holidays that Allah revealed.' T
he conceits of universalism are so easily overthrown; not even courtesy is globally
recognized as a virtue, as anyone who lives in our 'multicultural' society knows all
too well."
ISRAEL NIXES NEW YEAR'S EVE
The austerity of the Muslim mindset was matched by the Israelis, who invoked a
similarly stern religious edict against millennial joy. "The party is no merrier in
Israel," I wrote,
"That beloved theocracy, where an official council of rabbis has made it all but
impossible for even foreigners to enjoy a New Year's party. Hotel owners have been
told that they may not hold New Year's celebrations. Whil
e not forbidden to rent facilities to non-Jews, hotels must somehow make sure that no
Jews would be admitted. Music, at any rate, is strictly forbidden at these gatherings
� no, not even a single verse of 'Auld Lange Syne
'!"
IN THE CROSSFIRE
Remember all those New Year's 2000 events that were canceled because everybody was
"cocooning"? What has really changed? Indeed, things have gotten much worse. We're all
still cowering in terror, only this time with good
reason, and the anti-joy, anti-pleasure ideology of the ayatollahs and their Israeli
equivalents has infected even American society. "Don't you know there's a war on?" the
prudish warmongers ceaselessly remind us � how ca
n you engage in such frivolous activities as partying and cutting taxes at a time like
this? Caught in the crossfire between warring theocrats, we've all been drawn
ineluctably into this ancient blood feud. It's gotten so
bad that we're as obsessive and involved as these two battling desert tribes � who
are so much alike in their dried-up asceticism.
SATANIC SPIRIT
Okay, now we get to the scary part. I had completely forgotten my reference to the
Weekly World News, that ludicrously lurid tabloid no one will admit to reading on the
supermarket check-out line, and its oddly prescient
story: "Face of Satan Photographed Over US Capitol!" There was even a picture that
oozed sheer malevolence: a thin, mocking face that peered out of a black swirling
cloud, manic eyes ablaze and the mouth twisted into a sa
tanic sneer. This, it seemed to me, more than any other news story about the terrorist
threat or the prospect of war in the Middle East, described the spirit of the coming
age.
AWFUL APPARITION
Of course, compared to its sister publication, the good old National Enquirer, which
is almost respectable now, the Weekly World News is not too reliable. But this account
of how "intelligence agents" using "handheld" cam
eras "that are generally found on spy satellites photographed the hideously evil Face
of Satan hovering over our nation's Capitol on November 17" seems to have presaged the
gibbering evil that hangs over us all today. The
Weekly quotes "one unidentified veteran CIA operative" as saying:
"The image is a portrait of terror unlike anything we've ever seen in this country. Is
it something supernatural? Is it some kind of life form? Is it � and hell yes, I'll
ask the question � is it Satan himself?"
That awful apparition, the Weekly continued, was "sitting up there over our nation's
Capitol like a crow on a clothesline, taunting our every move. Is it somehow a sign of
events either bad or good to come?"
THE DARKNESS DESCENDS
Well, uh, definitely bad, I would say. But you didn't need a special camera to capture
the spirit of the nation and the world as it stood on the brink of the new millennium.
This Weekly World News story, I averred, "perfe
ctly expresses the Zeitgeist of the new age: a dark, ominous sense of foreboding." A
crow sitting on a clothesline, taunting our every move with maniacal cawing � sounds
like Osama to me.
THE ABYSS BECKONS
As the world races to the edge of the abyss, with the US racing the fastest, this
sense of foreboding has been more than confirmed. We have unleashed � through our
arrogance, our carelessness, and our shortsightedness � f
orces that we can neither understand nor control. Having planted the seeds of the war
that is now only just beginning, this year, which the President of the United States
has promised will be a "war year," we are bound to
reap the whirlwind.
IT ISN'T PRETTY
I take no satisfaction in having predicted � all too accurately � the course history
has taken since 1999. It sickens me, really, to know that one can rail against the
darkness, even as it descends, and all to no effect.
It seems, at times, that we are helpless to defy the march to war, powerless to fight
an invincible evil that hovers, like that image of Satan above the US Capitol, over
the days of our lives. War abroad, and the specter
of repression at home: this is what we have to look forward to, and it isn't pretty.
Looking into the future, on this first day of 2002, what is visible with striking
clarity is the clearly discernible Face of Satan.
THE FINAL BATTLE
But all is not lost. There is still time � time to wake up the American people, who
may yet perceive that their interests do not lie in perpetual war. Time to revive the
spirit of the Constitution and the memory of our Ol
d Republic, in spite of the deformations of Empire. We must fight for all that America
once was, and can be again � with all our might, and using every weapon at our
disposal. This is the final battle, and we must either
win it, or die in the attempt. Antiwar.com will be there, to inform you, uplift you,
and keep you company. And that's the only comfort I have to offer: the knowledge that
you are not alone.
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