Pager explosions in Lebanon fuel distrust of devices
Photo: REUTERS.
The number of victims of the “pager attack” is greatly underestimated. 20 dead and 450 injured – this is only in Lebanon. But after September 17, hundreds of millions of people around the world realized that the “brave new world” had already arrived and that we were all already living in it. Moreover, this was the third attempt to understand the new reality.
The first can be considered the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 in New York. After that, the United States, which proclaimed itself a bastion of freedom and democracy, adopted laws that put security before individual freedom. International terrorism has convinced all other countries that total surveillance is better than being the victim of bandits or fanatics.
The pandemic has shown everyone what it means to live in isolation, fully trusting the authorities. Because only they can manage society in extreme circumstances.
And here we have the third opportunity to understand this: no one in the global world can feel safe, even locked in their bedroom. If there is at least some kind of device near you (“little thing” in Russian), you are a potential victim. The basic trust in the world as a place where one can live with the confidence that everything is under control is disappearing. They control only you. And with your own consent.
It is highly doubtful that the Israeli intelligence services, on their own initiative and without any demands, would have carried out an operation that would destroy confidence in any product of the giant transnational corporations and in the entire world economy. What kind of international division of labor exists if a loophole can be found in a complex logistics chain to insert super-explosives into any “thing”? A pager, a telephone, a coffee maker, an electric toothbrush – it doesn’t matter. It is even possible to insert a bit of modeling clay into a piece of soap produced somewhere.
The division of the world and the reversal of globalization, which was supposed to benefit primarily the “golden billion,” are becoming irreversible. The division between “friends and enemies” is inevitable. The inscription on a product “Made in Japan (Korea, EU, Canada, etc.)” will now generate caution instead of trust. Online trading is becoming a dangerous lottery: what did they send you in the box?
So the question is unavoidable: who and why gave the go-ahead for such a cynical demonstration that we are all “walking under a device”? And did they understand what could then happen to that very basic trust on which everything in our global world is based? Perhaps this is just a recognition and a signal: “Knowing that only we control this global world”? It is good that Russia has already understood this and is ready to rely, first of all, on itself.
However, as the classic saying goes, a scoundrel gets used to everything. Everyone has become accustomed to the fact that the iPhone is an ideal tool for self-reporting. But very convenient and necessary. And what do I have to hide? But now, after the massive use of bomb-like devices, you can’t help but think: in whose hands is your life when you have some digital “thing” in your hands?
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