Bomb Defused in London
As I write, London police are using a robot to investigate a parked car near Buckingham Palace. The operation comes hours after a car was discovered packed with explosives and ready to detonate outside a nightclub in Picadilly Circus.
The proper response of Americans to these events? Book a vacation in London immediately and make sure to visit Picadilly Circus.
Whoever planned this operation at the height of the tourist season is trying to hurt the UK economy.
Britain is perfectly safe, in fact the murder rate there, including political violence, is one-fourth that of the US. A ticket to the UK can be found inexpensively and there are reasonable places to stay, and as urban historians have pointed out, London is a giant toy that is endless fun to play with.
In solidarity.
posted by Juan Cole @ 6/29/2007 06:09:00 AM
|
Facebook
18 Comments:
Bravo! London is a great city. And if the bombers are looking for someone to intimidate, they've picked the wrong target.
Bunk!
"You know what you call a vehicle with 50 gallons of gas? A Cadillac Escalade."
Atlantic Free Press
My thoughts precisely. I'll be there in some two weeks time. I'll go and dance where that car was -- to hell with the backwards jihadis. We need to let them know that they can rot in their own stew if they please, but we will not be terrorized in our own back yards.
--From America, with love.
We're committing genocide in Iraq and counterattacks are labeled terrorism. They are doing nothing different than we--killing indiscriminately--except we do the most killing.
Empires are fought and resisted for good reason. If one chooses to be with the Empire, then one chooses to be a genocidalist and a target. If one chooses to be against Empire, then one becomes its target; but one retains his/her morality.
Hopefully, the Gay Pride Parade, set for a Haymarket route, will go on tomorrow as scheduled. Most of the MSM outlets are citing the area as a vibrant tourist area, but none seems able to mention the parade.
No. No. No.
Throwing tourist 'bodies' at potential/failed jihadi sites is not a reasonable political response.
Juan, nobody's not going to go to London because of this. We all know that.
A civilized response is not on that level. It's more complex and more painful: it's what do we do to get better police work, better intelligence, and god forbid! dare I say it?? SANE NATIONAL LEADERSHIP in Britain and here??? elections, trodding your neighborhood, activism that takes you away from your 'career', spending money on elections that you don't want to spend -- you know, he ugly, boring, tedious, painful stuff.
Forget some silly junket to London.
'Throwing tourist bodies' at Piccadilly will have NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER on future events.
Comments an adoring daily reader.
Hopefully, the Gay Pride Parade, set for a Haymarket route, will go on tomorrow as scheduled. Most of the MSM outlets are citing the area as a vibrant tourist area, but none seems able to mention the parade.
Perhaps here we see the difference between the US and British media, because Channel 4 News here in the UK not only mentioned the Pride parade but interviewed one of the orgnisers. He was confident that the bomb was not aimed at the parade (a Neo-Nazi bombed a gay pub some years ago), since it would have been planted tomorrow if the parade was the target.
To Sean I reply, If it weren't for Empire, we would have no "Salafi jihadists," for there would be no oppression for them to attack.
Karlof1: So what exactly does killing large numbers of innocent people have to do with fighting oppression? How does the intentional targeting of fellow Muslims fit into resisting "Empire"? And what is your definiton exactly of someone "who chooses to be with the Empire"? Are children legitmate targets in your mind?
I know you're trying to sound like Frantz Fanon, but who you really sound like is a Khmer Rouge apologist.
I agree with karlof1, and so would Ward Churchill.
We are ALL potential collateral damage due to the foreign policies of our respective governments.
Specifically, the policy that causes, by DIRECT ACTION, 'failed states', and allows their lifeblood, land, and natural resources to be sucked out of them as the U.N. just idly stands by, as tacit endorsement.
"Terrorists? Why, they are people lacking (Nb. stripped of)identity. They are seeking to be noticed... to be heard" --Marshall McLuhan, early 1960s, speaking of the first of the airline hijackers
We had the IRA bombing the f@ck out of us, and tourists, for years. It was only when they started targeting the financial centre, the City, that our government changed policy. Now, nearly two decades on, the political wing of the IRA sits in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
What can be learned from this snippet of local history?
1-Governments will not change policy while it's people die, it only does so when the nations' wealth is threatened.
2-Lasting solutions are found in dialogue (or in genocide)
Juan: You might want to check out Larry Johnson's dkos diary on the reco list today on how this "bomb" is as much of a joke as the recent JFK airport "plot". Seems to be a pattern of hyping silly incidents as the equivalent of 911, necessary since the real terrorists are not being helpful and keeping people terrorized.
Just gasoline and propane tanks in a car with the windows rolled up. Duh.
London used to be affordable, before the Bush dollar devaluation. Now only wealthy university professors can afford to stay there (especially when someone else is paying the bill).
Funny how I'm trying to sound like someone I've never read.
Sean:
You don't seem to understand: For every action, there is an opposite reaction. I cannot make it any simpler than that. History is the study of such behavior as recorded in primary accounts and reviewed in secondary and tertiary works. The nature of cause and effect in the current crisis is quite clear and elaborated on by many writers. What was done in Southeast Asia was genocide, and thousands continue to be crippled and die do to our poisoning the land--a capital war crime. For the killing to end, Imperial impunity must end. And for Imperial impunity to end, American Exceptionalism must end.
karlof1: Again, you dodge my point about these "resisters" intentionally targeting innocent people from their own community. How is that a retaliation in response to American foreign policy? How does killing large scores of people from the same faith fit into fighting imperialism? It doesn't.
Bah - part timers couldn't even set it off correctly. I grew up in london during the IRA campaign, worked there for 7/7 (how nice of the terrorists to choose a date US/UK could agree on) - hitlers bombers in the blitz we all knew our neighbours left our doors open etc...
Ahem.
re: bombers motivations. Fuck 'em. They're shitheads. Once you start blowing shit up, I no longer have any interest in your political motivations (and that includes you, mr blair).
I wouldn't try to eat or drink anything on Haymarket, though, you'll be ripped off wholesale. Especially don't go to the Sports Café which is horrid. Mind you, in midweek you can sometimes get into the cinema cheaply - matter of fact I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 there, might have been a Thursday morning I think.
If you carry on down to the bottom, by the way, you'll find a plaque showing where Ho Chi Minh worked as a waiter when he was in London. Unfortunately it's a bit too high up the wall to have your photograph taken with that plaque in it.
Yeah, encourage people to travel and burn as much petroleum as they possibly can. Never think about peak oil and climate change; that's just not the American way!
Post a Comment
<< Home