Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Global Second Amendment for the great Equalizer

How about making a movie based on a story line that goes like this: A bunch of teenagers split into a couple of teams. They play cowboys fighting other cowboys as if they lived in the lawless era of the “Wild West,” a time when the only rule that used to count was to kill or be killed.

A super advanced alien race happens to be passing-by when the game of the human kids intrigues them. To better understand the game, the aliens wave their transmuting wand and instantly transform the scene. Instead of teenagers playing with toy guns, we now have two nations battling each other with computers. Also, instead of two teams of equal size, we now have one small nation battling a superpower in cyberspace; a domain where there is no law, no restraining rule of any kind, and no gentlemanly agreement as to what is allowed and what is not.

Well, my friend, if you guessed this was a metaphor for what's happening on Earth at this time, you guessed correctly. It reflects a president of the United States that came out one day and bragged about crippling Iran's economy, which is an act of war that normally requires a response. The same president then came out the following day and bragged about unleashing a cyber attack to intensify the continuing assault on Iran. As you can imagine, that's when the response became even more urgent.

What the aliens from outer space do not know but we do too well, is that the cybergun of the new Wild West has become a great equalizer in the same way that the handgun became a great equalizer in contemporary urban America. It leveled the playing field for the regrettable relationship that exists between the law enforcers and the disadvantaged groups whom the police tend to kill as if they were game for all seasons.

For the aliens to have transformed the game of children into a cyberwar between nations, is to foretell the kind of lawless world in which we are sliding. It is a world in which big nations, as well as small ones and non-state actors, can play the game as if all of them were operating on a level playing field, protected by a kind of Second Amendment right to keep and bear cyber-equalizers. We have entered an era in which there is no referee to warn or restrain the players, and no law by which to call them to account.

It must now be revealed that in reality, the aliens who transformed the game of children into a cyberwar, did not come from outer space. They came from right here, our own blueish planet. No one knows how many earthly aliens there are, or where they hide. But we know of one of them, and we know where he hides. He is David Marcus who hides inside an outfit called The Federalist. Once in a while, he puts out opinions on how he would transform the Planet.

That's what David Marcus did on June 23, 2019 when he produced a missive directed at all human beings. It came under the title: “Why Trump's Cyber Attack On Iran Was The right Move,” and the subtitle: “Cyber attacks are the future of warfare. By launching one against Iran, Trump has increased the threat to Iran without plunging the United States into war”.

What strikes you as incredible when you read that article, is the image of a guy that's going through life with only half his brain working. On the one hand, he admits to the following: “High-ranking military officials consider the cyber threat to be the greatest we face from foreign adversaries.” This is the product of the half-brain that's working.

But mindful that America and the world need to be kept safe from an all-out cyber war, you look for the wisdom that the other half of the brain is supposed to produce. Alas, instead of finding wisdom, you discover a Wild West kind of desolation. And you guess, it must have been produced by a gray matter that is as impaired as a bug that's runover by a truck. Here is the result:

“President Trump's cyber attack is in many ways more insidious and dangerous for the Iranian regime. By signing our name to it, the United States is sending a clear message that it is willing and able to use this newest weapon of war, to dramatic effect”.

What this young earthling is ignoring, is that the Iranians (and many others) can do to America and to each other that same thing. Thus, instead of advising how America and the world can be made safe from the devastation, which the new weapon can heap on the world, David Marcus is celebrating what he calls: “a serious cyber shot across Iran's bow”.

Did it occur to him that Iran will now work on responding to the American attack with one of its own? Apparently not, given that half his brain is too impaired to produce anything but that kind of drivel.