I think the suitcase nuke just appeals to a consumer society that has learned to confer sexuality on "objects of desire". It's an object of fear, but sexy nonetheless - or even more so - like guns are erotic in a way that is incomprehensible to non-Americans.
So there are simpler ways to commit mass murder, but they don't have the fetish value that a suitcase nuke has as a conversation piece.
If this panic lasts, Jean-Paul Gaultier will put some suitcase nuke valises and handbags in his spring collection.
Hakki
|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
|| [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Gar Lipow
|| Sent: 16 Kasým 2001 Cuma 21:23
|| To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
|| Subject: Re: Suitcase Bombs - don't panic
||
||
|| > my comment was a poke in the ribs. i think the question--as a way of
|| > pointing out how silly someone's concerns are--is, itself, silly.
|| >
||
|| Maybe overly terse. But 911 required a lot preperations (including
|| flying lessons). It was carried out as soon as possible for
|| maximum damage.
||
||
|| And we had people saying that the use of suitcases nukes are inevitable
|| or damn likely -- move out of big cities as soon as possible.
|| It really
|| is worth pointing out that this is inducing panic at something unlikely
|| to happen. On the other hand, I had to spend some time on it,
|| because it
|| is unlikely, not absurd. There are some realistic scenarios as to how
|| this could come about.
||
|| I suspect the missing Russian nukes are either in the hads of
|| govermente
|| rather than less official terrorist organizations. (Most existing
|| governments are also terrorist organizations.) Alternatively, some of
|| them could still be in the hands of Russia, and former Soviet
|| Sattelites. Given the chaos in Russia and former Soviet
|| Colonies, it is
|| also possible that some of them never existed and represent an
|| accounting error.
||
||
|| Yours, Pollyanna
||