Monday, September 13, 2004
A Mushroom Cloud that Wasn\’t
If it looks like a mushroom cloud, it's probably a mushroom cloud. I was struck today by the need for the media to rely on official sources to report on the cause of the mushroom cloud over North Korea this weekend. --IdeaLog.us
I was searching GoogleNews and Feedster to see what was being said about the startling, though unsurprising, news of a mushroom cloud in North Korea.
The story was quickly reported on Slashdot, a daily haunt of mine, and the the BBC. While commenting sites, such as blogs and Slashdot, drew tons of comments, I find most disturbing the reports from regular news media.
This is the story of the denial of a mushroom cloud. On Friday, technically Thursday in North Korea, satellite images picked up a mushroom shape cloud from an explosion in North Korea near the China border. North Korea first denies it, then calls it an accident, then later attribute it to a planned demolition for a hydroelectric project.
Meanwhile, American news sources also deny the believability of a mushroom cloud, whether for politic purposes, tough news standards, or general disbelief.
What we do know is that before the War on Terrorism, aka the War on Iraq. In October 2002, North Korean President Kim Jong-il, in a fit of childish pique, tossed down his toys, stomped his feet, and gave America the big “look at me” speech of “renewed interest, pursuit, and testing of nuclear arms.” America, under the care of President George Bush gave a “whatever”, pretty much like self-observed mother denying that her child is playing in the street during rush hour. (The BBC has a far better, and more accurate timeline than mine, so read it.
North Korea huffed and North Korea puffed, and North Korea blew some stranger’s house down, and we didn’t care, because, “well, it’s not ours why should we?” The US was in a frenzy though, a heighten era of making America safe, freeing us from the threat of terrorism, by attacking Iraq and ending the regime of dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Not a well thought out or well executed idea, but an idea nonetheless (see Truthout Editoral: U.S.: Three Years On, War on Terrorism Looks Like a Loser)
To this idea, goal, we dedicate billions of dollars of resources, offered up the lives of men, women, and their children on the verge of adulthood, often too young to drink, but just old enough to die in a fit of patriotic fevor. So as we searched Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, we let North Korea build and build. Now, as we try to extract ourselves from the ungodly mess that is liberated Iraq, North Korea enters the testing phase of their nuclear program—aka “I will, I will create a nuclear weapon. O’ I was just joshing, send us more aid.”
North Korea wants energy aid, and an end of economic sanctions against it. George Bush wants North Korea to stop whining, and for heaven’s sake stop testing nuclear weapons that are large enough to be detected via satellite, “are you try to kill my re-election campaign?” But the good news, is that the development (that would be the errant mushroom cloud) was so worrisome to the US, that they issued an *alert*. They must of sent mine via snail mail, but I can take comfort that paper was shed.
So forget satellite imagery. Forget that the claimed, planned detonation of the hydroelectric plant produced an explosion larger than the April 2004 railway explosion that killed 160 people and injured over 1,300. And please forget that the mushroom cloud produced was over two miles wide, and left a crater so large it remains visible by satellite. This was a non-issue. A mushroom cloud that wasn’t. It was just a planned demolition of a power plant. You know like those planned demolitions that buildings and sundry that happen daily. You don’t even notice them unless your within a two block area.
It must be that satellite firmware upgrade, better imagery through software. I’m certain Photoshop could make that mushroom just a cloud of dust. I feel safer already, what with all the denials, who would believe that a mushroom cloud ever occurred.
Footnotes
Mushroom Cloud Over North Korea http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/12/048255&tid=99&tid=1
Atomic Activity in North Korea Raises Concerns http://liberalchristians.blogspot.com/2004/09/atomic-activity-in-north-korea-raises_13.html
Truth Out: Editoral http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/091204A.shtml
Control Room” Views War on Iraq Through Al-Jazeera’s Lenses http://www.wrmea.com/archives/Sept_2004/0409050.html
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