It's happened again.
The British have arrested 21 suspects in a terror plot, supposedly to blow up ten US airliners flying from the UK to New York, DC, and California. As a result, all liquids are banned from carry-on luggage, and in the UK, all carry-on baggage are banned except for travel documents and a few other essentials. If worst comes to worst, all battery-powered devices - including laptops, cell phones and watches - may be banned from aircraft.
While all terror threats must be looked into and taken seriously, the timing - just a few months before the US midterm elections - is suspicious.
In my childhood, I lived in a fascist society, where the government would routinely do raids on college campuses and then-illegal labor unions, to capture "communist sympathizers" and whip the population into submission, whenever its popularity went down. I am seeing the same tactics being done by the governments of the US and the UK these days. I have a feeling that by the time a REAL threat comes around, the Americans and the British will be too jaded to react - and the resulting catastrophe will be the fault of the W and Blair regimes.
Today happens to be the 15th anniversary of my only visit to the World Trade Center observation deck. I still remember the evening breeze on the roof, as well as the New York cityscape unfolding below me - the experience that the terrorists have forever taken away now (with W's complicity). And this newest terror alert is the worst possible way to be reminded of that.
I hope my upcoming flights to Vancouver and back won't be too much of a hassle.
