Dichotomy of power

Oh for those simpler times; 1139 for example there was a ban, at least among Christian countries, on the cross bow. Its armor piercing capabilities were just too dangerous for noble folk at the time to contemplate.

Now our noble folk have a lot more on their defensive plates.

British Chancellor, Gordon Brown, has just thrown his considerable political weight behind replacing the country’s aging anti-missile system.

The Chancellor threw his weight behind Tony Blair's plans to replace the submarine-based system when it is decommissioned in 2024. Replacement, opponents claim, could cost £25bn. Brown will authorise the spending of £1bn a year between now and then.

Bush recently announced the deployment of the incomplete would be swung into asction against the latest North Korean threat.

US officials said they could try to shoot down a North Korea test missile with 11 interceptors based in Alaska and California.

Okay, so we’ve been aware for years of the inevitability of rogue states getting access to the modern equivalent of cross bows. Once the nuclear and missile systems were developed the threat of spread was evident.

That’s the big ticket ordinance, which can perhaps defend against attacks by other big ticket delivery systems. It doesn’t do a bit of good against the small operator who is willing to hand deliver the goods in person.

Having stirred up malcontents of all types, world powers now have to factor in the cost and logistics of fighting ghosts. Some of these threats were signs which might give clues of their intentions, but not all, by a long shot.

Some kid any of us went to school with, in any country, could well have grown up sufficiently discontented generally to become a threat in these queer times.

So our power brokers, our Blairs and Bushs, our Howards and Putins must be going nuts trying to work out were they are going to put their resources while they are otherwise occupied in spreading alarm and generating fresh malcontents.

Their friends, the arms manufacturers are no doubt pleased as punch, but those clever beans aren’t capable of developing weapons against micro aggressors, and that is what the coalition of the willing are best capable of creating at the moment.

While the political elite are caught in this dichotomy between macro and micro aggression, we the people are the meat in a not too tasty sandwich.

There is no gain for us in the massive arms industry; most people are forgoing even minor treats because gas prices, in a 'gas' war, are crippling.

We can’t even simply like, trust, ignore or loath our neighbor anymore when we don’t really know who our neighbor really is.

To our political elites I can only say – no, I’d better not, the bloke next door might be an agent.