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I come across a lot of stuff on the Web which I don’t necessarily want to expatiate on to any extent, but is worth bringing to the attention of people who drop by here regularly.

So I thought the sensible thing to do would be to bite the bullet and start a weblog. I can’t guarantee it will be updated every day, but I will update it as frequently as possible.

Saturday 15th September 2001

One of the most striking features of this week’s attacks was how extensively the NYC attacks were captured on videotape, from the first strike on One WTC right through to the final collapse of that building. Here are images from space of the WTC and the Pentagon, as they were and as they are now after the attacks.

It is just about impossible for those of us not there in NYC or Washington to know precisely what people are going through there. Here are web sites giving very personal accounts of experiences this week, accounts of fear and pain and struggling on, of hope and, for some, the determination to hit back at those did this:

• Every time an F16 flew overhead, every head around looked up — everyone is afraid of planes today.
• With a deep Brooklyn accent he said ‘Brother, if you don’t mind, there is a cloud of glass coming at us, grab my hand, let’s get the hell out of here’.
• So fuck off, for implying we deserved it. Fuck. Off.
• Thank God. The anti-bush agenda signs have begun.
• I kept looking south, looking for the WTC…
• If God can’t control nature, then what’s the point?

The FBI has made its first arrest.

Experts are saying terrorists are likely to strike again, and soon — but the “good news” is that chemical, biological or nuclear attacks (pace Tony Blair) remain unlikely. (Of course, you could argue that the effectiveness of Tusday’s attacks demonstrates that terrorists don’t need such capabilities to work their havoc.)

People are already saying, the World Trade Centre should be rebuilt — I am not so enthusiastic, and I’m not the only one.

A resource needed by the rescue effort which might not be obvious: If you are a geek in New York, I’d strongly suggest that you head over to the nearest police station, Red Cross office, or emergency center…

Americans seem to have been blissfully unaware that in many areas of the world they are hated; they know now, and are trying to figure out why. But some Americans already know why:

Our foreign policy has been insane for decades… When will we learn that we can’t allow our politicians to bully the world without someone bullying back eventually?

Or, as someone else puts it:

The lie (“America is a beacon of freedom”) triumphed over the truth—a lie all the worse for being partly true. For America is a beacon of freedom, if you can get there. Outside the borders, where the CIA and the F-18’s roam free, things are a little different. Freedom (within limits) at home, Realpolitik abroad, is the truth of American politics.

Americans have never been able to face this truth, for the same reason that Christians have never been able to face the cruel contradiction at the heart of Christianity (i.e. “Accept my love or die!”). Like Heaven, America too is a myth, an ideal, a goal, an aspiration. The necessity of power politics is not part of that ideal, and Americans who wish to enjoy the pleasures of being a member of “the greatest country on Earth” must deny it, as Christians who wish to enjoy the delightful feeling of salvation must deny the injustice of their image of God.

The view in the Arab world: Many Arabs, though appalled by the atrocity, do believe that America deserves some sort of comeuppance… And while many, probably most Muslims are appalled by the slaughter, in a Pakistani madrasa, Osama bin Laden is a hero. What is a madrasa? The Haqqania madrasa is, in fact, a jihad factory.

Should NATO go to war against Afghanistan — which seems very likely if the Taleban continue to defend bin Laden (and the USA prepares for war) — the West should beware: Afghanistan always beats its invaders. Against that, no one has ever used modern warfare against Afghanistan: …the Taleban now face the real possibility that they will be blasted out of existence…

If Pakistan has doubts about how much support to give the USA, India has none.

The Guardian claims that cracks are already appearing in the anti-terrorist coalition. Meanwhile, Bush tells anyone in US military uniform to be ready for action.

Elsewhere, Arial Sharon seems to be making what capital he can out of the new world situation.

As for defeating hijackers, No new technology or security measures can make flying infallible.

In the virtual world, hackers have hit a Taleban web site; but the Chaos Computer Club has called on hackers not to attack the networks and websites of Islamic groups, no matter how upset they may be about Tuesday’s terrorist attacks. In Canada, a Jewish group wants stricter regulation of web sites promoting violence, claiming that islamway.com was recruiting terrorists over the Net.

Oh, and there’s more details on the Nostradamus crap factories.

Friday 14th September 2001

Following yesterday’s news that people had been rescued alive from the rubble of the WTC attack, it now seems the reports were wrong. Pictures have now surfaced from inside the WTC, one showing a fireman heading up the stairs…

Questions being asked: Why did the towers collapse?; How can the skies be made safe?

Eight people have been arrested at airports, possibly planning a further attack. However, this has just been refuted. New York times columnist William Safire has raised the spectre that the terrorists may have a mole in the White House — that, or informants in the Secret Service, F.B.I., F.A.A. or C.I.A. I can’t say I’m convinced; surely the events he describes could as easily be explained by the terrorists’ desire to sow confusion and uncertainty?

I saw the news footage of celebrating Palestinians, and I thought the woman gibbering at the camera looked familiar. I wasn’t the only one:

CNN’s videotape of Palestinians supposedly dancing in the streets of a West Bank town. CounterPuncher Marcio A.V. Carvalho at the state university of Campinas in Brazil tells us that he and his colleagues had compared this tape with one from 1991 showing Palestinian cheering, and found them to be identical.

Pakistan pledges its support to the US. As the world — even old enemies like Syria, Cuba, Libya, Iran — queues up to condemn the attacks and support the USA, news emerges of China’s increasing closeness with the Taleban — admittedly, the agreement mentionned being signed before Tuesday’s attacks.

There are 10 religious and secular groups capable of using suicide terrorism according to Jane’s Intelligence Review — including, of course, Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaida group. They note:

The threat of suicide terrorism is likely to spread with time. As many second-generation operations have been conducted away from the theatre of war, it is likely that suicide terrorism will affect Western Europe and North America in the future.…

Terrorist groups are setting a dangerous trend of using suicide bombers to destroy targets far away from their theatres of war. Many groups are likely to use suicide bombers to infiltrate target countries and conduct suicide attacks against Western VIPs and critical infrastructure in the foreseeable future.

That was written in October 2000.

Afghanistan continues to deny bin Laden’s guilt, making an unconvincing statement that Mr Bin Laden could not have masterminded the attacks because he lacked the capacity do so. The Taleban are threatening retaliation against any US attack.

Comment from Dave Winer’s Scripting News:

The pervasive fear of retribution is a tool for the US president. Now I’d like to see an LBJ-like approach, let us reason together, how can we all win now. It’s OK to think about the dead, but they’re dead. Think about all the people who are alive now who will be dead if we go to war. American culture is so self-centered, now we’re part of the rest of the world. Security in Europe is pretty heavy. So what. We’ll get over it. Now how can we use our new unity to make some peace. This is our wakeup call. Wake up.

Tony Blair has warned of the possibility of terrorists using nuclear weapons. On the other hand, one point of view is that this was possibly the last effort of a uniquely extreme group sheltered by a uniquely obtuse and backward government.

A Salon.com article notes that when James Baker calls for a return to the days of unaccountable ‘dirty business.’ he is forgetting just how deeply American embroilment in dirty business — coups, assassinations, military regimes — contributed to hatred of the U.S.

Speaking of hatred — further reports of attacks on Muslims from around the world. Anti-Muslim ranting is widespread on the Net, and it isn’t even good to look Middle Eastern at the moment.

Salon.com also notes that while Democrats and Republicans are united, there is some tussling between the executive and legislative branches of government.

An unnacceptable face of capitalism raises its head as a mass marketing firm equates anti-spammers with terrorists, completely distorting the meaning of a newsgroup posting to do so.

Much worse: America’s Christian fuckwits come out of the cesspit.

On a more trivial, but weirder, side of things, The Coup are having to redesign their forthcoming album’s cover (originally designed months ago). Spooky. The lunatic fringe has recently been well represented by the many e-mails of a supposed prophecy of Nostradamus: BoingBoing well and truly buries that, and so does About.com’s Urban Legends page.

The Internet is a superb communications tool, as this terrible incident has made clear. Example: we don’t have to make frantic attempts at telephone calls to know that some friends are safe. There were reports earlier in the week that the Web “collapsed”, reports which Wired.com delights in rebutting. At Slashdot, Jon Katz compares the response of online and offline media on Tuesday.

On more mundane matters, the Tories have chosen their new leader: not the heavyweight ex-chancellor, but an unknown quantity. Iain Duncan Smith has named his Shadow Cabinet. Commentators say it’s time for the Tory party to face up to reality. That’ll be the day.

Thursday 13th September 2001

‘We predicted it,’ [Senator Gary] Hart says of Tuesday’s horrific events. ‘We said Americans will likely die on American soil, possibly in large numbers — that’s a quote (from the commission’s Phase One Report) from the fall of 1999.’ — full story at Salon.com, New York Times. Michael Moore gives a clear description of just how lax internal flight security has been in the USA.

Some thoughts from Salon.com which chime with mine: One leader has risen to the awful occasion — and, so far, it hasn’t been President Bush.

The first moves are being made towards re-opening American airspace.

And now, where will America’s foreign policy go?

A database of survivors of the World Trade Centre attacks is being compiled. One great piece of news is that five firefighters have been found alive. All UK survivors of the attack will have their medical costs met by the British Government. A Defense Department press release states that anyone at the Pentagon who survived the initial impact and collapse could not have survived the fire that followed. After the first strike on WTC1, many in WTC2 started to leave the building — but then they were told to stay where they were. No total as yet for the death toll in NYC, but 3.700 people are reported missing. Stories of the heroism of passengers on Flight 93 are coming out.

Clear suspicions grows all the time of the guilt of Osama bin Laden [see also FAQ], who would no more spare American civilians than military targets. But now ill feeling is being directed at Muslims with no connection to terrorism of any sort: a school bus was stoned yesterday in Brisbane.

NATO is considering the attack an attack on the Alliance in accordance with Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. The BBC has just reported (not, as far as I can tell, yet on the Net anywhere) that “Americans are prepared to take casualties” in striking back at those responsible. This is already being described as World War III.

The American cowboy is reaping the fruits of his crimes against humanity — that’s unsurprisingly the view of Iraqi TV, while the Saudi Arab Press says, If there is a Middle East connection, one can only hang one’s head in despair. Whatever the resentments, this has to have been an insane — and ultimately doomed — way to combat Washington. More Middle East responses. From the USA, a clear description, with only a little sentimentality, of the nature & response of America:

You see, the steel in us is not always readily apparent. That aspect of our character is seldom understood by people who don’t know us well. On this day, the family’s bickering is put on hold…

You don’t know my people. You don’t know what we’re capable of. You don’t know what you just started.

But you’re about to learn.

When it comes to retaliation, The Central Intelligence Agency … may be the last to know where to go or who to hit, much less who done it here. Meanwhile, the FBI are moving to increase surveillance of the Net. Let us hope that freedom is not destroyed in the name of the defence of democracy — in the USA and all the democracies; the worry is that, as Noam Chomsky says, the crime is a gift to the hard jingoist right.

The timing of the attack — is it possibly related to the dates of the Camp David Accords in 1978?

And, of course, the loonies are coming out of the woodwork. Everywhere.

Wednesday 12th September 2001

The attacks on New York and Washington yesterday are obviously what’s on everyone’s minds today. (Except the Iraqis, who are more interested in the shooting down of an American spy plane.) Blood is greatly needed in the USA, so if you are in the States give blood; if you are a webmaster, here are graphics for your site.

The photographs and film of the attacks are shocking, but also stunning are the doppler radio views of the New York area. (If your browser can’t handle Java, here’s a static image.)

The wife of the US Solicitor General was on one of the aeroplanes which was destroyed. Apparently, the passengers were told to call their relatives and tell them they were about to die.

A bizarre report from the Chicago Tribune says the World Trade Centre was designed to withstand the impact of a 707. Well, a 767 is I imagine a significantly bigger aeroplane than a 707 — but how could they be sure of that? How could they test it? It also seems odd that if they considered the effects of an aeroplane impact it didn’t occur to them that there would be a major fire if that happened! But clearly no building could stand up to this sort of attack — surely the question now is, should such huge buildings be constructed in the first place?

Telephone communication with NYC was impossible yesterday, and the Net was swamped as it was initially the main source of information. The New York Times site is still running very slowly. As well as news, it gives a list of NYC blood donation centres. Google has links to main news sources. The New York City Bombing Check-In Registry has had to shut down access but still has a list of names of survivors from those who managed to get in before access was shut down.

A report from Washington describes the local response as inept and says One can only be thankful that we haven’t had to cope with a fraction of what New York is experiencing.

As America reels, voices there are already saying that this is the result of America’s own actions over many years. Others are already calling for the country to prepare for war.

In the UK, Parliament is being recalled, a manifestation of the global red alert spoken of by CNN. The UN is pulling out of Afghanistan.

In Palestine, Arafat has condemned the attack. The West is appalled at these suicide attacks, but an article (written before the attacks on the USA) describes the Muslim view of martyrdom operations. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden has denied he did this (well, there’s a surprise) but he praises the attack. On the other hand, One senior U.S. official told NBC News that investigators were 90 percent certain that bin Laden was responsible.