handy
11-19-2013, 11:31 AM
Fascinating analysis. A little long, but worth the time.
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DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
US digs a security black hole
By Tom Engelhardt
Given how similar they sound and how easy it is to imagine one leading to the other, confusing omniscience (having total knowledge) with omnipotence (having total power) is easy enough. It's a reasonable supposition that, before the Snowden revelations hit, America's spymasters had made just that mistake.
If the drip-drip-drip of Snowden's mother of all leaks - which began in May and clearly won't stop for months to come - has taught us anything, however, it should be this: omniscience is not omnipotence. At least on the global political scene today, they may bear remarkably little relation to each other. In fact, at the moment Washington seems to be operating in a world in which Continue (https://www.atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-01-141113.html)
Tom Engelhardt, co-founder of the American Empire Project and author of The United States of Fear as well as a history of the Cold War, The End of Victory Culture (now also in a Kindle edition), runs the Nation Institute's TomDispatch.com. His latest book, co-authored with Nick Turse, is Terminator Planet: The First History of Drone Warfare, 2001-2050.
Note: A small bow of thanks to Adam Hochschild and John Cobb for helping spark this piece into existence.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/tomdispatch) or Tumblr (https://tomdispatch.tumblr.com/). Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Ann Jones's (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1608463710/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20)They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return From America's Wars - The Untold Story.
Used with permission TomDispatch (https://www.tomdispatch.com/)
(Copyright 2013 Tom Engelhardt)
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https://www.atimes.com/images/f_images/spacer15.gif
<tbody>
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
US digs a security black hole
By Tom Engelhardt
Given how similar they sound and how easy it is to imagine one leading to the other, confusing omniscience (having total knowledge) with omnipotence (having total power) is easy enough. It's a reasonable supposition that, before the Snowden revelations hit, America's spymasters had made just that mistake.
If the drip-drip-drip of Snowden's mother of all leaks - which began in May and clearly won't stop for months to come - has taught us anything, however, it should be this: omniscience is not omnipotence. At least on the global political scene today, they may bear remarkably little relation to each other. In fact, at the moment Washington seems to be operating in a world in which Continue (https://www.atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-01-141113.html)
Tom Engelhardt, co-founder of the American Empire Project and author of The United States of Fear as well as a history of the Cold War, The End of Victory Culture (now also in a Kindle edition), runs the Nation Institute's TomDispatch.com. His latest book, co-authored with Nick Turse, is Terminator Planet: The First History of Drone Warfare, 2001-2050.
Note: A small bow of thanks to Adam Hochschild and John Cobb for helping spark this piece into existence.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/tomdispatch) or Tumblr (https://tomdispatch.tumblr.com/). Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Ann Jones's (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1608463710/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20)They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return From America's Wars - The Untold Story.
Used with permission TomDispatch (https://www.tomdispatch.com/)
(Copyright 2013 Tom Engelhardt)
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