It’s been a puzzle to me why the US is keeping up a level of saturation bombing, with Administration statements that the bombardment might even continue through the winter and into the spring, when every strategic target in Afghanistan must already be levelled. Now Debka suggests that, in addition to keeping up a continuous air presence in case we spot “emerging targets” (shorthand for signs of bin Laden), we are doing it to thwart

the secret Russian plan they have got wind of. Our military sources and informants in Moscow reveal that the tanks, the APCs and the self-propelled artillery Moscow gave the forces of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance are in fact manned by Russian troops. Altogether three armored brigades of the 201st Russian Motorized Rifle Division are now poised on the outskirts of Kabul, planning to enter the Afghan capital ahead of US forces.

This exercise would repeat the gambit the Russians pulled in the 1999 Kosovo War, when they beat NATO to the draw by taking over Kosovo’s main airport before the alliance had a chance to effect a troop landing there.

By their round-the-clock bombing threat, the Americans hope this time to deter the Russians from jumping in first again.

higgy’s page delves more deeply into Bruce Cockburn (scroll down! quickly!), occasioned by featuring his 1970-87 singles collection as higgy’s CD of the day. Always worth listening to (I mean Cockburn and higgy!). BTW, higgy wrote me to say that those “songs stuck in your ear” are called earworms up where he comes from. A fitting term. Now that I’ve finally got My Sharona out of my head… oops, I did it again, it’s back… I would love to come down with a Bruce Cockburn earworm sometime.

As an aside, if any readers have any live performance recordings of Cockburn, I’d love to trade for a copy of any or all, although I haven’t been doing much if any tapetrading at all in recent years. My tapelist comprises mostly my old passion, the Grateful Dead and its friends and relations from the ’60’s and ’70’s San Francisco scene. You can click here to get to the miscellaneous, non-Dead-related stuff.

Speaking of Cockburns and music, David Vest writes on Alexander Cockburn’s CounterPunch about Dylan and 9-11:

Did he write these songs this morning?!? How could he get this album in the stores within moments after these things happened?

Maybe you picked up the Village Voice, where Greg Tate was asking, “What did Dylan know, and when did he know it?”

Man, he knew it before we were born.

“Things are breaking up out there,” he sings. Unbelievable. But you better believe it

.

Terror Unanswered: William Saletan argues that it is a disastrous mistake to ignore, rather than respond to, bin Laden’s video, which has “saturated the Muslim world” and “attacks all (the stated) premises” of the U.S. campaign. Slate Robert Fisk agrees: “Bush and Blair have already lost the talking war across the Middle East.”

. The Independent UK

Anthrax scare spooks tabloid readers, afraid they’ll contract the disease by reading or handling American Media’s tabloids, or even from going into supermarkets where they are sold. Ad Age [Now I’m convinced the anthrax attack must have been part of the terrorists’ plans to disrupt the bedrock of American culture.]

Timothy Garton Ash: Why this war in Afghanistan will redraw the map of Europe: increased stature for Britain as intermediary between Europe and the U.S.; launchpad for Russian entry to the European community; acceleration of the eastward expansion of NATO but, potentially, a slowing down in elaboration of the European Union; decreased attention to the Balkans; “a European foreign policy? One can argue this both ways. On the one hand, the Islamic and Arab worlds are Europe’s ‘near abroad’, and we have perhaps 20 million Muslims in Europe. So there is a vital European interest in addressing the underlying causes of the discontents on which terrorism feeds, whether among Palestinians, Kurds or Algerians. This crisis should therefore catalyse co-ordinated action in the Middle East and North Africa. On the other hand, the left-Gaullist idea that Europe should have an approach very different from that of the US, and perhaps even see itself as a rival superpower, must seem less plausible and palatable at a time when the West as a whole is under attack.” The Independent UK

‘I Lost My Brother on 9-11; Does He Matter?’ ‘On October 8th, as most Americans rose concerned and curious about the military action taking place on the other side of the globe, NPR’s Morning Edition host Bob Edwards asked Cokie Roberts to weigh in. “Leaders of Congress were quick to issue a statement in support of the military action in Afghanistan,” he said. “Were there any dissenters?”

“None that matter,” she replied.

It’s a jaw-dropping statement when you think about it, one that says nothing and yet says everything. There was opposition to the bombing. But how much? From whom? But before you go demanding simple facts or objective reportage, let’s cut to the chase: it doesn’t matter.’ AlterNet

Elmo’s Worth More Than a Tickle After Christmas, select “Tickle Me Elmo” ‘s will stop giggling and announce to five people that they are winners of a big-money sweekstakes. The strategem is praised breathlessly by the Toy Indiustry Association, but critics are incensed at an insidious marketing scheme to get parents to buy a toy for their children because they lust after a boon for themselves. Wired [I share that concern but have a more basic one; what if it belongs to a child too young and unsophisticated to understand the congratulatory announcement? Will parents have to take the toy away from their uncomprehending child and play with it all day on the designated day to satisfy themselves that they’re not the big winner?]

The Hi-tech manhunt from the skies to ensue. Wired

Circuits That Bug Out Bugs: “That cockroach skittering behind your computer may be after more than your sandwich crumbs: It could be looking for a home inside your PC.

Entomologists are warning of the growing risks that insects pose to electronic hardware, but few electronics manufacturers in the United States are aware of the danger.

It turns out cockroaches like to nest in the warmth and darkness that electronic equipment provides.

And in everything from household appliances to network servers, their waste and rotting carcasses can corrode printed circuit boards and short out electronic components.” Wired

‘The US administration had very specific information about Osama Bin Laden, his whereabouts, details of his al-Qaeda network and the degree of Pakistani military and security involvement in Afghanistan as far back as March, courtesy of the Russians, but still elected to take no action. The latest issue of Jane’s Intelligence Review, published from London, says that Moscow’s Permanent Mission at the United Nations “submitted an unprecedentedly detailed report” to the UN Security Council six months before the American atrocities.

According to Alex Standish, the editor of the Review, the attacks of September 11 were less of an American intelligence failure and more the result of US inaction based on “a political decision not to act against Bin Laden”.’ The Times of India

India helped FBI trace ISI-terrorist links. The Times of India is reporting that India was instrumental in establishing the link to one of the suicide bombers of the former director-general of Pakistan’s intelligence service; he has just stepped down in scandal after it came to light that he had funneled $100,000 to Mohammed Atta. his Indian source delights in adding:

“A direct link between the ISI and the WTC attack could have enormous repercussions. The US cannot but suspect whether or not there were other senior Pakistani Army commanders who were in the know of things. Evidence of a larger conspiracy could shake US confidence in Pakistan?s ability to participate in the anti-terrorism coalition.”

Attack Altering Politics Across Southeast Asia. Uniting and motivating Muslim constituencies is a boon to power of Muslim political parties, e.g. the large minority bloc in the Indonesian parliament, which hopes to capitalize on public opposition to President Sukarnoputri’s support for the U.S.-led war effort. Washington Post

Anthrax was genetically modified strain

Federal investigators now believe the strain of anthrax bacterium that killed Robert Stevens and got stuck in the nasal passage of an American Media co-worker was genetically modified, The Palm Beach Post has learned.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the strain is more lethal, because officials say it is sensitive to penicillin. What remains unclear is how the strain was modified. Although it could have been altered in a terrorist’s bioweapons factory, it also could have been retooled in an academic or commercial laboratory for research or be a natural mutation never seen before. The strain’s name hasn’t been made public. Palm Beach Post

State: Hoaxes cause biowar scares around U.S.: “Across Florida, mysterious but apparently harmless powders send emergency crews scrambling.” St.Petersburg Times

University of Wisconsin Bacteriology 330 Lecture Topics: Anthrax

Heeding the Lessons of the War Against Drugs

Declan McCullagh: FBI Warns of ‘Skyfall’ Attack — ‘In a brief but dramatic statement, the FBI warned Thursday that Americans should expect additional terrorist attacks.

A two-sentence press release on FBI.gov said there “may be additional terrorist attacks within the United States and against U.S. interests overseas over the next several days.”

The content was disturbing enough, but even stranger was the Web address of the press release: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel01/skyfall.htm.

Just what did the FBI mean by inserting the word “skyfall” into a description of a press release? Was it a reference to the 1970s-era disaster novel entitled Skyfall, or a hint that the bureau was remembering the children’s tale in which Chicken Little warned of calamity — but was not believed?

A harried FBI spokeswoman who had been deluged with calls about “skyfall” said the answer was none of the above — and the press release soon would be renamed.’ Wired

Another Cliché site, the ClichéSite, perhaps better than the previous one. [thanks, Carol!]

U.N. Head ‘Disturbed’ by U.S. Statement on Broader Attacks: ‘UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday he and diplomats at the world body were “disturbed” by a U.S. statement claiming a legitimate right to extend military attacks beyond Afghanistan

…Washington is interested in ensuring that the coalition include Muslim nations such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan – and possibly even Iran.

So far, very few Muslim nations have volunteered to join the coalition. Egypt and Iran have said they would enlist only if the coalition were under the auspices of the United Nations.’ Common Dreams

Watching How the Brain Works as It Weighs a Moral Dilemma. Different moral dilemmas engage different parts of the brain, according to the first study watching brain processes as subjects conisder such problems.

Dr. Jonathan Cohen of Princeton, a psychologist and expert on brain imaging who worked on the study, says it begins to provide tools to understand why people with different cultural backgrounds can arrive at different conclusions about moral dilemmas, like taking a life for some greater good. If people’s gut-level emotions are organized differently as a result of their backgrounds, he said, they may reason differently about what is right or wrong.

Experts say the findings may be useful to philosophers as well. While moral philosophy deals with ethics and logic rather than emotion and biology, Dr. Stephen Stich, a professor of philosophy and cognitive science at Rutgers, says that in the real world people have feelings about life- and-death issues. Knowing how their brains behave as they wrestle with difficult issues like abortion and euthanasia may be more useful than most philosophers realize, Dr. Stich said. New York Times

U.S. Forces Suffer First Fatality “An Air Force sergeant killed in northern Arabian Peninsula became the first American death of Operation Enduring Freedom, military officials say.

Officials said the man was killed in a heavy-equipment accident.” Boston Channel

U.S. Lists Most Wanted Terrorists and Offers Reward of Millions: “President Bush today announced

the creation of a most wanted list of

international terrorists, a roster of 22

suspects led by Osama bin Laden and

several of his lieutenants. Mr. Bush promised multimillion- dollar

rewards for their capture.” New York Times [name: “FMHreader”, password: “FMHreader”] Rogues’ gallery <a href=”http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/terrorists/fugitives.htm

“>here.

At U.S. Request, Networks Agree to Edit Future bin Laden Tapes “…and abridge any future videotaped statements from

Osama bin Laden or his followers to remove language the

government considers inflammatory…Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, indicated in his news briefing yesterday that Ms. Rice was

primarily concerned that terrorists could be using the broadcasts to send coded messages to other

terrorists, but the network executives said in interviews that this was only a secondary consideration.” New York Times [name: “FMHreader”, password: “FMHreader”] Meanwhile. there are reports that Iomart, a Scottish company enlisted to aid the U.S. intelligence effort, has found messages that might be linked to bin Laden embedded inside other material on the web. “The company has been using sophisticated software to search the net for so-called steganography, the system of hiding messages inside electronic images and music files.

The system of encrypting text on the Internet is thought to be used by bin Laden and his associates as a means of communication, according to Iomart.

In recent weeks, Iomart experts have unearthed hundreds of files, some of them containing Arabic text and dates which have been passed on to investigators.” Ananova Of course, Iomart would have a vested in terest in inflating this finding, as it claims its software is the only package that can do the job. There are reports that this decoded information is a large part of the “proof they did not reveal” about al Qaeda’s responsibility for the attacks on 9-11. Sunday Times of London