[Nettime-bold] Two quick WTC reflections

[Patrick Lichty <voyd@voyd.com>]

I was thinking about the response that Bush has announced on CNN et al, and
the inpression that comes to mind are the paradox of violence and the fall
of the nation state,

The Paradox of Violence in American Culture
America is a culture of violence and tragedy.  On televised programming,
gunshots ring out, heads explode, and sex is reduced to jiggle tactics for
our 'tit'ill-ation.  The most popular video games are typically the most
violent (besides Myst), and everything in AMerican culture has to be
'extreme'.  Have you seen the new 'Extreme' tampons?  (Just joking).

However, amidst all of this, large amounts of effort are expended to
instill conflict resolution techniques in American schools.  The philosphy
taught is that if you're hit, you have to take a moment and consider your
actions.  

In the case of the WTC, within minutes Bush was announcing "terrorist"
actions perpetrated upon the American public, and within 24 hours, the
American war machine's hammer is cocked, ready to respond before a clearly
defined adversary known.  To me this smacks hollow with the restraint we
try to teach our kids.

The Nation-less State.
Here's the problem:  The US government's rhetoric has repeatedly tried to
equate its response with nation states.  Their Harbors will not be safe,
they say.  This once again returns to the affiliation with a nation state.
The problem is that there is a high degree of probability that all of this
is privately funded, not affiliated with any nation state, and operations
are likely to have taken place in many of the US's allied nations.  The
network of terrorism is also likely made up of hundreds of individuals
operating in independent 'cells' all over the world.  This is La Femme
Nikita vs. Get Smart. The American rhetoric is still plugged into the old
model of organization - the nation-state.  In this case, an overlay of
highly mobile, independent alliances and cartels are made evident, much as
in a cyberpunk novel.  The target moves, and its nature can change
dynamically to adapt for contingencies.  When the regimented, hierarchical
structure of conventional nation-states are confronted with this agile
enemy, they struggle to comprehend the paradigmatic shift that has happened.

Sure, the US might wish to eliminate harbors for terrorism.  So then,
should the Air Force bomb the flight academies in Florida that trained some
of the WTC terrorists?  If, as one TV rumor puts it, there was a
Germany-based cell involved, should Germany be bombed back to the Stone Age?  

Hardly.

New realities are being made evident, and extant structures are trying to
deal with them in traditional terms.  Until the powers that be understand
that these new agile and stealthy operations operate in ways and structures
perviously alien to them, the possibility exists that such events are
possible, even likely in the future.


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