Well, I'm not feeling particularly creative today, so I shall leave you with this bit of comic relief:
20 October 2010
05 July 2010
Espionage
Anyone who has been paying any attention to the news lately has become aware of the arrest of 11 individuals, 10 in the US and one in Cyprus, over allegations that they were acting as sort of Russian sleeper agents. What is remarkable about this news coverage is the surprise and outrage expressed by the American media. Somehow people are surprised that they would spy on us, as is illustrated by this story from NPR this morning. Why?
According to this story, the United States caught Ben-ami Kadish, a US citizen, for allegedly acting as an agent for Israel in 2008. In this case, it was nuclear secrets, information about a modified F-15 fighter jet and the Patriot missile system. Where was the outrage in the news media back in 2008? Where was the sensationalism about some sort of betrayal by Israel, one of our closest allies?
Of course, it goes without saying that countries spy on each other. They don't have to be enemies to do it, either. Anyone who has taken a basic IR (International Relations) class is familiar with the concept of Realism. Realism argues that states act as autonomous units that do not interact with each other. Every state attempts to one-up the others, and act only out of purely rational self-interest. While this is not practically true as a pure theory, and instead we see mixtures of that and Liberalism, that Realist streak seems to exist in all countries. In the spy world, there are no allies. Everyone wants to build a capability over everyone else.
As for the media, it seems that we have a very obedient media in the United States. When it comes to those that our government deems good, then the media is not to ask questions about it. However, when the US says that they are the bad guys, our media follows suit. The US media has become little more than a propaganda arm for the US government and her interests. This is not a liberal vs. conservative argument. MSNBC does it. Fox News does it. CNN, CBS, ABC, etc. They all do it. More to come on that soon. That is all, for now.
According to this story, the United States caught Ben-ami Kadish, a US citizen, for allegedly acting as an agent for Israel in 2008. In this case, it was nuclear secrets, information about a modified F-15 fighter jet and the Patriot missile system. Where was the outrage in the news media back in 2008? Where was the sensationalism about some sort of betrayal by Israel, one of our closest allies?
Of course, it goes without saying that countries spy on each other. They don't have to be enemies to do it, either. Anyone who has taken a basic IR (International Relations) class is familiar with the concept of Realism. Realism argues that states act as autonomous units that do not interact with each other. Every state attempts to one-up the others, and act only out of purely rational self-interest. While this is not practically true as a pure theory, and instead we see mixtures of that and Liberalism, that Realist streak seems to exist in all countries. In the spy world, there are no allies. Everyone wants to build a capability over everyone else.
As for the media, it seems that we have a very obedient media in the United States. When it comes to those that our government deems good, then the media is not to ask questions about it. However, when the US says that they are the bad guys, our media follows suit. The US media has become little more than a propaganda arm for the US government and her interests. This is not a liberal vs. conservative argument. MSNBC does it. Fox News does it. CNN, CBS, ABC, etc. They all do it. More to come on that soon. That is all, for now.
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