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If you understand the way United States foreign policy is formulated, and by whom, you accept that madness can be accepted if couched in the appropriate, jargon-filled language.In the 1970s, the notion of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) as the cornstone of foreign policy for nuclear conflict --- despite that glaring acronym --- was bandied about the U.S. State Department, the Department of Defence, the Pentagon, and the Brookings Institute without anyone batting an eyelash.
In the 1990s, the Pentagon thinks nothing of saying that the Internet assures an environment of Perpetual War.
There's a lot of information out here on the Internet. So sometimes you come across something so outrageous, so unthinkable, that you know it has to be part of an Internet Hoax.
You learn to filter.
But what gets scary is when the "outrageous, unthinkable" information is true.
While visiting the Tasty Bits from the Technology Front site, a place I go to for information and a different slant on technology issues, I ran across a monograph by Phil Agre of UCLA. It was a chilling piece of work. It lays out the basic premises behind this Day One entry.
Mr. Agre chooses to step back from the issue of an official foreign policy doctrine of "Perpetual War." I would suggest here that we should not. It is part and parcel of the type of serious political dialogue that an informed citizenry should engage.
More to the point, just as MAD was in the background of our fears of nuclear annihilation, "Perpetual War" is central to our new existence.
If the "Information Infrastructure" of the nation is inseparable from its military infrastructure, what does that say about you and I? Just as civilian deaths in Iraq are only part of the acceptable "collateral damage," so your death or your child's are part of the acceptable collateral damage of "Perpetual War."
Agre's right about one thing: WHERE ARE THE VOICES SPEAKING OUT ABOUT THIS? This makes the CDA and COPA pale by comparison.
Shouldn't an informed citizenry in a democracy be concerned that foreign policy debate in their country has effectively been silenced by the side-show which is Monicagate--- thanks to the legislative and media cooing sycophants of the Power Elite in their short skirts and six-inch heels? (Thanks, Carla!)
While the Mouthpiece Media in the United States remains absolutely silent about this nation's abrogation of carrying the banner of democracy in countries like Cambodia it would seem logical to This Writer that there would be some semblance of a Loyal Opposition still in place. But such is not the case.
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So there is no concerted questioning of the policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank in this country. We ignore the fact that 57% of the reserves of these two international central banks are in U.S. dollars, effectively rendering them hostage to U.S. foreign policy, to the bane of many of the poor countries of the southern hemisphere. We do not question the economic shackles being forged, I would argue, to our peril.
I would posit the argument that it is high time we began challenging The Popular Wisdom if we mean to be an informed and involved citzenry in a true democracy. Forgive me for being so bold.
Which brings us back, if we dare to speak about U.S. foreign policy, to the implications for our society of this "Perpetual War" thinking --- because of the Internet --- among the Pentagon brass.
This type of thinking militates against the very notion of the Internet, and the World Wide Web, as a means of bringing people and nations together. It certainly works toward assuring Haves and Have-Nots, if for no other reason than that great grey shade "National Security."
You and I should be concerned about that because it goes against exactly the semi-Utopian dream which brought many of us here.
If this Information Infrastructure is just another tool of "Perpetual War" who is the war being fought against?Who will need a security clearance for access, and to whom will access be perpetually denied?
Start asking questions. That's the beginning of a serious and important foreign policy debate.
Rod Amis is publisher and principal editor of G21: The World's Magazine. He also writes on technology issues for IT Manager's Journal and Andover News Network. His writing can also be found at NRV.
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