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ref:Iran and Pakistan and the Politics of U.S. Stealth Technologies - Worldnews.com
Iran and Pakistan and the Politics of U.S. Stealth Technologies Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling.
On July 4, 1956, Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev was enjoying the annual Independence Day reception at the American ambassador's residence in Moscow. Meanwhile, a new American spy plane, the U-2, was making its first voyage directly over Moscow, snapping photographs and gathering other types of political, economic, and military intelligence. The flights continued over the next four years until finally on May 1, 1960, the Russians shot one down.
However, the U-2 flights over Russian airspace were very problematic. First, the spy planes flying over head violated international laws and usurped control of Russia's sovereign air space. Second, the U-2 spy plane was fitted with a self-destruct explosive. If one was ever shot down, it was supposed to explode and self-destruct, destroying both the U-2 spy plane and its pilot. Lastly, when the U-2 spy plane was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile, it prevented a major arms limitation conference from convening.
There were other troubles too. When U.S. political and military leaders gathered the intelligence bonanza and discovered how far behind the Soviets were in their weapons technologies and nuclear warheads programs, they kept the information from the American people. In fact, some American leaders deceived and lied to the American people by creating the false "missile gap" story, or that the U.S. lagged far behind the Soviets. This, of course, caused tremendous fear and panic.
Thinking that the U-2 spy plane and its pilot had been destroyed, President Dwight Eisenhower denied the incident. When the Soviets produced the wreckage and the pilot, the U.S. was embarrassed; its credibility dealt a severe blow. Consequently, the Soviets viewed this violation as an act of war, as did other nations who were experiencing U-2 spy plane flyovers. Furthermore, the U-2 spy plane incident encouraged the Soviets to build the Berlin Wall, resume nuclear testing, and too try and place missiles in Cuba.
Fast forward to another stealth war, or the Global War On Terror, and the recent downing of two "Western" spy drones in the Persian Gulf by Iran's security forces. This event also coincided with a report showing that over 2000 people in Pakistan were killed by U.S. drones, most of them innocent civilians. These events are dangerous signs of how stealthy war technologies and their ideals can cause distrust between nations and hinder international peace efforts. They also have ways of triggering negative and deadly repercussions at home and abroad.
By their very development and nature, stealth technologies symbolize a government's true intentions and values system. This is especially evident, as stealth technologies are manufactured and produced in a highly secretive fashion. Since their sole purpose is to perform covert missions without being detected, including the ability to kill in secret, these same stealthy and deceitful technological principles-like secrecy, dishonesty, and cunningness-can unknowingly be internalized by a national security state and it people. These ideals not only guide foreign policies, but domestic decisions as well.
Iran has claimed to have already destroyed several U.S. drones that have illegally flown over its sovereign airspace. Like the Soviets and other nations (China) during the Cold War, they see this as a clear violation. Some leaders in Iran even view it as a clear provocation for war. With 40 percent of all traded oil coming out of the Persian Gulf, and with hundreds of U.S. military bases completely in range of Iran's missile programs, the U.S. might want to reconsider its stealth technologies and its stealthy diplomacies.
There is also the human error in stealth war technologies, something the Conflict Monitoring Center (CMC) in Pakistan has just exposed. The CMC has documented cases where remote-controlled drones have confused ordinary citizens carrying traditional guns and ammunition for enemy combatants. Many times, people involved in rescue missions to care for innocent civilians whom have been attacked will also come under fire from drones. The CMC has also accused the U.S. of either concealing or trying to hide an ever increasing civilian death toll.
It is interesting to note that in the West, the rise of racism and imperialism coincided with new technologies and machines. Highly advanced technological nations often viewed non-technological societies as primitive and less civilized. The West, specifically the United States, must ask itself if technological innovations and achievements, like drones, are the only true measure of humankind. Can stealthy and covert technologies even desensitize a nation to the extent that it can no longer distinguish between truths and lies, transparency and secrecy, fact and fiction, or civilians and enemies?
Even more tragic is the possibility of the "agentic shift," as used by Stanley Milgram in his experiments of collaborating with authority and genocidal behavior. The "agentic shift" is a process whereby humans transfer responsibility for an outcome from themselves to a more abstract agent, like a machine, a fighter jet, a missile, or a drone. In other words, the fighter jets, drones, and missiles kill, but never the citizen soldier or citizen taxpayer. When control and responsibility are relinquished to a machine (or to national security state), not only is there little remorse, but unimagined and inhumane atrocities can easily occur.
In ancient Greek mythology, Apate (daimona) was the spirit of deceit, fraud and deception. She was also a companion to Pseudologoi, or lies. When Pandora's Box was opened, Apate and Pseudologoi were one of the first gods to be released to plague and destroy humankind and the world. The U.S. military has again announced its plans to deploy a new and technologically advanced stealth intelligence drone to Afghanistan. The airborne surveillance system, called Gorgon Stare, will be able to transmit live video images of physical movement across an entire town.
Regarding the tumultuous histories of stealthy combat technologies, both past and present, Apate or Pseudologoi would have been more accurate names. When stealth technologies becomes both the means and the ends, replacing and surpassing even human nature, human compassion, human thinking, human awareness, and human consciousness, expect more irrational abandonment to a technocratic utopia and its almighty war drones. But be prepared for unintended and lethal consequences.
Meanwhile, expect more secret massacres and concealed killings. Killings that might include allies or even its own citizens. (The U-2 spy planes that flew over Russia were based in Pakistan. Fifty years later, similar U.S. stealth technologies are killing Pakistanis. Do not forget too that the U.S. has drones flying over the U.S.-Mexican border.) As for Iran, its un-stealthy offer to allow international ambassadors to visit its nuclear enrichment sites serves as a good lesson and example for the rest of the world.
A lesson and example, that is, which the United States and its people might also want to pursue.
Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)
ref:Iran and Pakistan and the Politics of U.S. Stealth Technologies - Worldnews.com
Iran and Pakistan and the Politics of U.S. Stealth Technologies Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling.
On July 4, 1956, Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev was enjoying the annual Independence Day reception at the American ambassador's residence in Moscow. Meanwhile, a new American spy plane, the U-2, was making its first voyage directly over Moscow, snapping photographs and gathering other types of political, economic, and military intelligence. The flights continued over the next four years until finally on May 1, 1960, the Russians shot one down.
However, the U-2 flights over Russian airspace were very problematic. First, the spy planes flying over head violated international laws and usurped control of Russia's sovereign air space. Second, the U-2 spy plane was fitted with a self-destruct explosive. If one was ever shot down, it was supposed to explode and self-destruct, destroying both the U-2 spy plane and its pilot. Lastly, when the U-2 spy plane was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile, it prevented a major arms limitation conference from convening.
There were other troubles too. When U.S. political and military leaders gathered the intelligence bonanza and discovered how far behind the Soviets were in their weapons technologies and nuclear warheads programs, they kept the information from the American people. In fact, some American leaders deceived and lied to the American people by creating the false "missile gap" story, or that the U.S. lagged far behind the Soviets. This, of course, caused tremendous fear and panic.
Thinking that the U-2 spy plane and its pilot had been destroyed, President Dwight Eisenhower denied the incident. When the Soviets produced the wreckage and the pilot, the U.S. was embarrassed; its credibility dealt a severe blow. Consequently, the Soviets viewed this violation as an act of war, as did other nations who were experiencing U-2 spy plane flyovers. Furthermore, the U-2 spy plane incident encouraged the Soviets to build the Berlin Wall, resume nuclear testing, and too try and place missiles in Cuba.
Fast forward to another stealth war, or the Global War On Terror, and the recent downing of two "Western" spy drones in the Persian Gulf by Iran's security forces. This event also coincided with a report showing that over 2000 people in Pakistan were killed by U.S. drones, most of them innocent civilians. These events are dangerous signs of how stealthy war technologies and their ideals can cause distrust between nations and hinder international peace efforts. They also have ways of triggering negative and deadly repercussions at home and abroad.
By their very development and nature, stealth technologies symbolize a government's true intentions and values system. This is especially evident, as stealth technologies are manufactured and produced in a highly secretive fashion. Since their sole purpose is to perform covert missions without being detected, including the ability to kill in secret, these same stealthy and deceitful technological principles-like secrecy, dishonesty, and cunningness-can unknowingly be internalized by a national security state and it people. These ideals not only guide foreign policies, but domestic decisions as well.
Iran has claimed to have already destroyed several U.S. drones that have illegally flown over its sovereign airspace. Like the Soviets and other nations (China) during the Cold War, they see this as a clear violation. Some leaders in Iran even view it as a clear provocation for war. With 40 percent of all traded oil coming out of the Persian Gulf, and with hundreds of U.S. military bases completely in range of Iran's missile programs, the U.S. might want to reconsider its stealth technologies and its stealthy diplomacies.
There is also the human error in stealth war technologies, something the Conflict Monitoring Center (CMC) in Pakistan has just exposed. The CMC has documented cases where remote-controlled drones have confused ordinary citizens carrying traditional guns and ammunition for enemy combatants. Many times, people involved in rescue missions to care for innocent civilians whom have been attacked will also come under fire from drones. The CMC has also accused the U.S. of either concealing or trying to hide an ever increasing civilian death toll.
It is interesting to note that in the West, the rise of racism and imperialism coincided with new technologies and machines. Highly advanced technological nations often viewed non-technological societies as primitive and less civilized. The West, specifically the United States, must ask itself if technological innovations and achievements, like drones, are the only true measure of humankind. Can stealthy and covert technologies even desensitize a nation to the extent that it can no longer distinguish between truths and lies, transparency and secrecy, fact and fiction, or civilians and enemies?
Even more tragic is the possibility of the "agentic shift," as used by Stanley Milgram in his experiments of collaborating with authority and genocidal behavior. The "agentic shift" is a process whereby humans transfer responsibility for an outcome from themselves to a more abstract agent, like a machine, a fighter jet, a missile, or a drone. In other words, the fighter jets, drones, and missiles kill, but never the citizen soldier or citizen taxpayer. When control and responsibility are relinquished to a machine (or to national security state), not only is there little remorse, but unimagined and inhumane atrocities can easily occur.
In ancient Greek mythology, Apate (daimona) was the spirit of deceit, fraud and deception. She was also a companion to Pseudologoi, or lies. When Pandora's Box was opened, Apate and Pseudologoi were one of the first gods to be released to plague and destroy humankind and the world. The U.S. military has again announced its plans to deploy a new and technologically advanced stealth intelligence drone to Afghanistan. The airborne surveillance system, called Gorgon Stare, will be able to transmit live video images of physical movement across an entire town.
Regarding the tumultuous histories of stealthy combat technologies, both past and present, Apate or Pseudologoi would have been more accurate names. When stealth technologies becomes both the means and the ends, replacing and surpassing even human nature, human compassion, human thinking, human awareness, and human consciousness, expect more irrational abandonment to a technocratic utopia and its almighty war drones. But be prepared for unintended and lethal consequences.
Meanwhile, expect more secret massacres and concealed killings. Killings that might include allies or even its own citizens. (The U-2 spy planes that flew over Russia were based in Pakistan. Fifty years later, similar U.S. stealth technologies are killing Pakistanis. Do not forget too that the U.S. has drones flying over the U.S.-Mexican border.) As for Iran, its un-stealthy offer to allow international ambassadors to visit its nuclear enrichment sites serves as a good lesson and example for the rest of the world.
A lesson and example, that is, which the United States and its people might also want to pursue.
Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)
