Mudville Gazette

July 07, 2005

London

Greyhawk

The ghost of Winston Churchill might be glimpsed in London Town this week.

Leaders of the world's major industrialized nations, meeting in Scotland at the G8 Summit today, said they would consider al-Qaeda's latest proposal to "end modern civilization and return to the glorious days of feudalism."

An attack on a nation hosting the leaders of the civilized world certainly sends a message, after all. A carefully considered reply delivered soon would be appropriate.

There's an undeniable conclusion that can be drawn from today's attacks: the modern world has its vulnerabilities - its obvious weaknesses. That's news to no one. That enemies of civilization would strike at those weaknesses should come as no surprise either. That they would symbolically aim that attack at civilization in its entirety might, however, shock a few slumbering souls into a slightly more wide awake attitude.

That the G8 had gathered to discuss reduction of third-world poverty, war, and greenhouse gasses was certainly no concern to those who spent the day drenching buses and trains with the blood of ordinary working people.

Ironic that Kyoto was on the agenda for the G8. Advanced and economically affluent nations can certainly do things to reduce global warming, after all. Among other steps, they can improve and expand mass transit systems, and encourage their use among their populations. Certainly there was bound to be some table talk on exactly that topic in Scotland this week. Now, however, there may be some careful re-writes on talking points underway.

Western Europe and Japan, by virtue of post-WWII rebuilding efforts, enjoy the finest, most advanced mass transit systems on the planet. Their vulnerability to terrorist attack has now been demonstrated repeatedly. From gas attacks in Japan to bombs in Spain and London, civilization's greatest enemies strike at symbols of it's strength that are demonstrably also it's weakness.

But that physical, tangible, and tactical weakness is not their true target. The weak point they aim for in such assaults is the perceived weakness in resolve of the people of the civilized world. In Spain the tactic appeared to get results; a government fell. Whether today's events would have occurred without that spectacular success from last year is a question for academics to debate.

And perhaps while they're at it they can tackle these topics too:

Is it time for London to fill it's cavernous subway tunnels with cement to ensure they are never attacked again? Is it time for the world to abandon mass transit as an unacceptably risky business altogether?

And what else should we surrender or abandon, to ensure we'll always be safe?

My answers are brief. "No" and "Nothing". The rest of the world will respond too, I'm sure.

But here's a final question for you to consider, depending on your answer to the previous two:

Who's next?

The ghost of Churchill might be glimpsed among those mourning and recovering in London Town this week. Certainly we'll see if his spirit lives on.

Posted by Greyhawk at 05:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (22) |

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How about abandoning appeasement? That'll make us safer.

Our leaders were discussing how many boatloads of money to give to Africa, and how to stop global warming, while terorrists were strapping on bombs and carefully placing explosives.

Once again, they play hardball, we play badminton.

Posted by jordan at July 7, 2005 05:52 PM

I'd say Mr. Churhhill has already been represented in this comment I found in the Thursday Open Post on Little Green Footballs:

Comment by a British reader (Comment #61):

"Just a word. My sister was at Tavistock Square at the time of the explosions, and my daughter and nephew were also in central London. We had some anxious moments, the more so because the cell-phone system was down (probably due to overloading), but we've all spoken now by land-line and email and they're all safe and well.
For those of you who are anxious to know how the UK will react, we've been bombed for years by the IRA, and no-one spoke of quitting. Half of London and much of Coventry was flattened by the Luftwaffe a generation or two back, and no-one ran. Before that, in my grandparents' time, we were bombed by Zeppelins and didn't give in. We gave up appeasing after Czechoslovakia. There's no panic today, and there won't be, but we, all of us, are bloody angry. Al quaeda may think we're going to run up the white flag, but I promise you nobody else does. "

Posted by Curt at July 7, 2005 06:18 PM

Churchill is surely watching and it is my hope and belief that the British will live up to his expectations.

Oh, and the Spanish owe the Brits an apology. Had they not bowed to these murdering cowards when they were attacked, I have no doubt that the British would not be suffering this attack today.

Posted by TWM at July 7, 2005 06:32 PM

Jordan,

Before the swarm of angry comments arrives from Malaysia, let me inform you that badminton is indeed devilishly hard.

What's a suitable French sport?

Posted by grimmy at July 7, 2005 06:33 PM

Might I humbly suggest to the ghost of Churchill that while in London he perhaps helps George Galloway to choke to death on his breakfast in the morning. Provided, of course, that the ghost of Chamberlain isn't there to administer the Heimlich.

Posted by whackdaddy at July 7, 2005 06:45 PM

>What's a suitable French sport?

Croquet, obviously.

Posted by LagunaDave at July 7, 2005 06:53 PM

Somewhere in the Borough of Brooklyn, New York, I hear there's a successor artwork to Serrano's choice of a clinical sample to encompass Jesus the Christ.

This latest artifact (so I am told) is an equal-opportunity interpretation of a certain Dark Age prophet, patron of camel-drivers and rug-merchants, whose heirs infest various poli-spheres even today. It consists of this man's graven image surmounting Mecca and Medina, smeared with what looks like recent swine excretions, the whole entitled "PS: Muhammed".

Dear me! If Serrano's brethren are "reaching out" to Islam in terms of blasphemy and sacrilege, can Castro or Kim Jong-il be far behind? We await bumper stickers proclaiming, "Kerry for Commissar" or perhaps "MzBill for Gauleiter" because, PS: Armbands fit the sleeve.

Posted by John Blake at July 7, 2005 07:37 PM

>What's a suitable French sport?

May I suggest surrendering? The French made it into a sport, atleast in the 20th century.

Posted by Retread at July 7, 2005 07:47 PM

"What's a suitable French sport?"

This is a family blog.

Posted by Mike K at July 7, 2005 07:48 PM

In defense of Chamberlain. Once he realized his error, he changed his ways and fully supported war against Germany.

Posted by Ted at July 7, 2005 07:52 PM

Im an old lady. When I was young and wars were going on I knew that in years to come, 50 or 60yrs, the world would be civilized and humans would be intelligent enough to settle disputes without killing people. No more wars! What are these people trying to prove? They can't kill us all. Welcome back Mr. Churchill, and bring your friends.

Posted by Lucille at July 7, 2005 08:02 PM

One of the many 800# gorillas in this story is Spain.

They owe the British an apology for their dhimmitude in their response to the Madrid attacks and showing the Jihadi a new template to attack the West.

Shame.

Posted by CDR Salamander at July 7, 2005 08:11 PM

By God I've had enough. I've stood by GWB and his war and now I'm going to ENLIST.

The country needs us like never before. I call on all of you to pledge on this blog that you too will enlist.

America needs more than our words. It's time for us to stand behind what we believe and serve in the armed forces.

Posted by Rob at July 7, 2005 08:13 PM

Yes, commenter Ted is right. Let's lighten up on Neville C. After he realized that his prewar diplomatic program led to little more than disastrous failure (in August 1939 - better late than never), he reversed direction and served wartime Britain loyally until his death in late 1940.

The modern poster boy for British appeasment, surrender and despair is obviously George Galloway.

Posted by big dirigible at July 7, 2005 08:15 PM

The G8 agenda was supposed to be trivia like Kyoto and Africa. That agenda is now out the window.

Now the G8 agenda has suddenly and forcibly been changed to important stuff like WW4.

God, AQ are stupid. Really, what worse time to attack than when the leaders of the civilized world (uh, plus Russia) are all meeting right there, feeling the impact and pledging their solidarity.

Posted by Cletus at July 7, 2005 08:27 PM

...Which would of course make our Loser Of The Day Bob Geldof.

Posted by Cletus at July 7, 2005 08:28 PM

No, no. Even croquet requires that you have a set of balls.

Lamont

Posted by Lamont Cranston at July 7, 2005 10:09 PM

That was a low blow, Lamont. Speakng of low blows, is there any truth to the rumor that Chirac's mother was midget?

Posted by Bill Faith at July 8, 2005 12:22 AM

The French sport which comes to mind is Boule.
(Croquet without the mallet of course)

Posted by Beth V. at July 8, 2005 05:10 AM

Sorry, didn't mean to badmouth badminton.

They blow up innocents, we wear gloves to handle the Koran. They attack civilians and children, we give our police sensitivity training.

This is going to be a long, long war.

Posted by jordan at July 8, 2005 02:41 PM

Curt,

But the British did surrender to the IRA. All of their murderers are now back on the streets. Gerry Adams and his fellow terrorists are distinguished public citizens now. They did it quietly and step by step, but in the face of a long series of terrorist attacks, the Brits folded up like a lawn chair.

Posted by Terry at July 8, 2005 03:32 PM

Im a Brit and the British response are along the lines of "its not that bad" or "it could have been worse" mixed with quiet anger. This has not effected our resolve and certainly wont effect British policy on terror.

Africa is NOT "trivia", Africans go threw ordeals in what passes for piece time on that dysfunctional continent that makes death by terror attack look positively cushy, and more Africans die every day from preventable problems than the total death toll the west has suffered fighting the war on terror. To call fixing Africa's many problems "trivial" compared to the war on terror is basically valuing the lives of a few white westerners above the droves of black Africans who die every day and is sickening in my view. I�m angry about the London attacks, but the death of 60 people and the shutting down of parts of London�s transport system for a day doesn�t warrant more attention than an entire continent that, to be perfectly frank, has problems that make the war on terror look like a mild annoyance in terms of both death toll and as a possible cause of future global instability.

As for climate change, well America�s attitude to it baffles me. You took a huge leap of faith with the invasion of Iraq, an invasion that has also damaged your economy, and all over a single country, yet when it comes to an issue that could change the entire world for the worst if not acted upon, you are not prepared to make a leap of faith, or risk your economy:
Situation 1: pretty shaky possibility of Iraq WMD and Links to terror � Firm action, the sacrifice of US lives and money.
Situation 2: very possible destruction of world as we know it? � America, apparently, is prepared to risk it
You sense of priorities seem dangerously unbalanced.

Posted by Fred at July 15, 2005 04:24 AM

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