I can't shake the ick feeling.

[lapsedmodernist]

We find ourselves living in a chronotope. A chronotope, as appropriated by Bakhtin from the theory of relativity, is a space-time unit and then some. It is an intersection of the the history and the historical narrative. The vectors of our particular chronotope, "the September 11th chronotope" imply a location, a time of day, a point separating "before" and "after," a discourse-turned-hegemony. The ontogenesis of it lies in the Empire, which does not have a beginning, because it erased its own point of origin through mythology. But myth always loops back on itself, that is one of its many powers, and we keep looking, entranced by the anthropomorphised archetypes on one end, blindsided by emerging futures that refuse to conform to prediction, confusing aftertaste and premonition, feeling the vague unease that results from lacking the language to talk about the fluid revisionism and the accelerated memory loss that permeate everything and feed each other. A chronotope in the wrong hands is a dangerous thing. This one keep metastasizing: Haiti, Ecuatorial Guinea, Syria on the back burner. It resonates in the Moscow subways and Madrid train stations. Its effluvia is the air in the room when Bush's campaign ad, capitalizing on the FDNY, appreas on the TV screen.

While the US fundies engage in a game of unconstitutional point-counterpoint with the queer community, the US is  hiring mercinaries in Chile to replace its soldiers on security duty in Iraq. Consistent with the new outsourcing mega-trend, former commandos, trained under Pinochet are being paid $4,000 a month to guard oil wells.

While the new democratic leaders of Haiti are locking people in outhouses and setting them on fire, as well as targeting anyone associated with the Lavalas family^*, the US is going "na-ah" now that its latest attempt at "nation building" has been cock-blocked by Zimbabwe. Sources also indicated that the aircraft, which Zimbabwean officials alleged also carried military equipment, had arrived from the Hope Air Force Base in North Carolina, United States, before its stop-over in Barbados. Further reports stated that the plane, originally a commercial PanAm Airways aircraft up until a week ago, was being operated by the American Air Force, but international Press reports stated it had been sold to a South African company. As we know, the plane was en route to Equatorial Guinea, which just happens to be the third-largest oil producer in Africa. Who says Bush isn't paying attention to reports on the environment and doomsday peak oil analysis?
"In April 2001, an MPRI representative met with the Pentagon’s regional director for Central Africa to discuss the company’s hopes of winning the contract to train Equatorial Guinea’s forces. “They may need our help or moral support,” Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski wrote in a memo on the meeting, obtained by ICIJ under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. She quoted the MPRI representative as saying that Equatorial Guinea was “the Kuwait of the Gulf of Guinea” and, in a briefing paper three months later, advanced that characterization to “a possible ‘Kuwait of Africa’ with huge oil reserves” that was “US-friendly for both investment and security reasons.” Kwiatkowski also noted in her April memo that the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet with Obiang when he visited Washington early in 2001 was an assistant secretary of agriculture – that after French President Jacques Chirac had spared time to meet with him.
Despite concerns about Equatorial Guinea’s human rights record, Obiang’s currency rose dramatically after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. When he visited the United States as it marked the first anniversary of the attacks, Obiang was among 10 African leaders to meet with President George Bush for talks on the prospect of war with Iraq and peace and development on the African continent." To read more click here..

Hours after the claim that Al-Qaeda was responsible for the Madrid bombings produced the headlines of the day in the US, to be scanned by people who never have and never will have any idea of what ETA is or who the Basque separatists are, Reuters reported: Purported Al-Qaeda Letter Says US Strike Near Ready. Apprently the code name for the strike is "Winds of Black Death," which sounds a lot like Jeremy Reynolds'^** imaginary of what Islamic Fundamentalists would entitle their impending strike. Remember Tommy Franks and wait for the October Surprise coming your way. Either that, or we will really be paying for The Cabal's apocalyptic warmongering across the globe for real. MIHOP or LIHOP? Take your pick.

*
Dennis Bernstein: from the Haitian Press Agency: "Many residents of Cap-Haitian who have sought refuge in Port-Au-Prince are appealling to human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to dispatch an investigation in the wake of reports regarding the fate of several citizens arrested by armed civilians who had taken control of the City of Cap-Haitian on Feb 22. The captives who were arrested following the arson attack against the police station are said to have been locked away for several days inside a container before being dumped into the sea while still inside the container. According to the same reports several police officers and supporters of family Lavalas were murdered. 'Only an investigation conducted by serious and independent organizations could make it possible to assess the veracity of these accusation according to the residents.' Many supporters of President Aristide are said to have been massacred in the city of Saint-Marc the day following the departure (the kidnapping) of President Aristide. Some of the alleged victims including police officers and are said to have been burned alive, according to the reports.

...

Dennis Bernstein: this comes from Jean Stuckey. she is a missionary, and she is quoting a letter of one of her missionaries in Saint-Marc: "As we write this letter a report came from Saint-Marc that people were packed into an outhouse until they could not get in anymore. The door was closed. Gasoline was poured into it, and it was set on fire. The people were forced to stay inside. Things of this nature are happening time and again."

...

Dennis Bernstein: We can't confirm this. It's difficult but joining us to talk a little bit about what's going on on the ground in Haiti is our good friend and special correspondent, Kevin Pina. Kevin, what can you tell us about what's been going on on the ground? We are hearing of shootings by the military. We are also hearing reports of mass murders.

Kevin Pina: They are definitely happening. I can't give you specifics right now. My situation does not allow me to ah ... actually, Dennis, this will be my last broadcast for a while.

Dennis Bernstein: What's going on, Kevin?

Kevin Pina: Well, I just have to say that, ah, the so-called democratic opposition that is now in charge in this country ... and who are in control of this country now, .. they have demonized Lavalas, but at the same time they are committing atrocities on a scale well above that which they ever accussed Jean Bertrand Aristide or the base of Lavalas of committing. It means that I can no longer continue to report directly to you and our listeners from Port-Au-Prince. It means that I have to change my strategy. This is a situation of repression, down right repression. The only thing we can hope is that people will not lose interest. That people will continue to keep Haiti in their hearts, in their minds and in their prayers. People are very, very desperate at this moment. People are dying in the manner in which you said, but anyone who dares to report that, who dares to go against the official line which demonzies Lavalas, which calls them chimeres, which justifies their slaughter, are a target for repression by this new regime which overthrew Jean Bertrand Aristide.

(snip)

Kevin Pina: The repression that's going on right now is not getting out to the world. The kinds of reports that you gave at the head of the program, are coming in ... I mean I can't, .. I could cry if I told you the frequency that they're coming in. And, the kinds of things that I'm hearing. And, now the situation has changed where anyone who would dare say anything, who would dare report that is now in danger.

(snip)

Kevin Pina: The majority of the poor still continue to support their constitutionally elected President. This disinformation campaign led by the United States and France did its dirty job. It overthrew this government in a coup d'etat. We are now seeing that athough they are putting a different face to the world, what's going on behind the scenes is that if you try to report it, if you try to talk about it, you are a target.

(snip)

Kevin Pina: ... We have in place now U.S. rule.

(snip)

Kevin Pina: The press here is controlled by the elite, and they are very close to and buddy buddy to the corporate media. You are not going to hear the truth for a long time in this country.

Dennis Bernstein: Is there anything we can do for in terms of you and how we can continue to support the work that you are doing?

Kevin Pina: Dennis, you know. People can call Dennis and Dennis knows who to point them to. I'm not going to say right now. Yeah, but I'm gonna keep on keeping. Um, listen, what have I done? All I have done is try to give the perspective, a voice to the voiceless, those people who are poorest of this country, who for once had a chance to represent themselves in the political life of this country. Now, that voice is being forced back into its homes, into its hobbles, into its slums, it's being repressed back there. Um, I did no harm. I left more than I took. And, I only hope that history will show that. If people want to know what to do, they should contact you and you know who to put them in touch with Dennis, that's all I can say.


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Comments

[mendaciloquent.livejournal.com]

The "September 11th chronotope" will end shortly, partly for the reason you mentioned -- the looming Hubbert peak. Other factors will hasten it, but that is the main one. Bush is doing his best to put the world's energy resources under American control before the price hikes begin, not that it will help much, and not that Equatorial Guinea will be able to make much of a difference either. Even the most optimistic estimates (that are still scientific -- not the USGS propaganda) indicate that the exploitation of new proven reserves can at best delay the peak by a few years. Of course, the next "chronotope" will probably be significantly worse than the one we're horrified with at the moment, probably one of the worst periods of human history.