Russians ≠Islamists
Mr. Krushchev said we will bury you
I don't subscribe to this point of view
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too
How can I save my little boy
From Oppenheimer's deadly toy
There is no monopoly of common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too
There is no historical precedent
To put words in the mouth of the President
There's no such thing as a winnable war
It's a lie we don't believe anymore
(Sting, Russians)
For nearly fifty years, the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction or MAD kept the sound of nuclear weapons limited to nuclear testing. After 1963, the sound was never heard again above ground when the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests In The Atmosphere, In Outer Space And Under Water (commonly called the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty) entered into effect. MAD worked because the Russians did love their children, I suspect. As did the Americans. As close as we came to the brink during the Cuban missile crisis, that love kept us from stepping off the edge.
Love of the children may no longer be enough.
AUSTRALIA'S top police officer has described an alleged plan to use a baby in the foiled British terror bombing plot as a chilling development.
But Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has backed away from tougher security measures at airports, saying the idea of testing infant's milk before air travel should be left up to regulators.
Scotland Yard police are questioning a husband and wife who allegedly planned to hide a liquid bomb in their baby's bottle to bring down an airliner.
They are among the 23 suspects arrested over the plot to blow up airliners headed for the United States in mid-flight.
Mr Keelty today expressed dismay at the alleged plan to use a child in a suicide mission.
"The phenomena of suicide bombings as a new way of taking part in terror attacks is in itself concerning, but to think or imagine that anybody would use an innocent child to join them is even more disconcerting," he said on Channel 9.
"And I think it just goes to show you the sorts of difficulties that we're now facing in the environment that we're all in."
But Mr Keelty was cautious about the state of airport security and brushed aside the question of testing babies' milk.
"That's an issue for the regulatory authorities, for the airline operators, you know, we've got to think about a lot of people here, a lot of interests," he said.
"We've got airlines that need to fly, we've got a lot of people employed by airlines and in the airline industry.
"We need to take advice from the airline operators and also the regulatory agencies like the Department of Transport and Regional Services."
This is barbarity. That Hezbollah has been using children as human shields is obvious to any but the willfully blind or utterly stupid. But this is a new level of depravity. This descends to a level the West will have great difficulty in dealing with.
Islamists do not love their children. They are merely tools. We have a major problem.
UPDATE: Planck's Constant: MAD, not a deterrent, an inducement.
War, World news | Gaius August 13, 2006
By bernie, August 13, 2006 @ 8:28 pm
This is silly. No normal, sane, civilized human being would ever think of doing such a thing. It must be a mistake. To think otherwise would be equivalent to declaring that Muslims are a sub-species of animal; a self-destructive culture that needs to be eradicated like an infectious plague.
What you say cannot be true, because that would mean there exists a form of life for which there are no limits to their brutality or evil in their quest for one worldwide Caliphate.
And thanks for the link.
By Gaius, August 13, 2006 @ 9:48 pm
I rather hope it is only a fraction of a fraction of a minority that cannot live in peace with the rest of the world.
Remember we have some cut of the same cloth here, too.
(You’re quite welcome for the link).
By K T Cat, August 13, 2006 @ 10:19 pm
Outstanding post. I hadn’t heard this and I wouldn’t have made the connection.