the future is now

System disruption in action in UK blast?

A start of systems disruption in earnest?

7/12/05: Zawahiri video posted to the Internet: "I call on the holy warriors to concentrate their campaigns on the stolen oil of the Muslims, most of the revenues of which go to the enemies of Islam. The enemies of Islam are exploiting such vital resources with incomparable greed, and we have to stop that theft with all we can and save this fortune for the nation of Islam." (this is a follow up to bin Laden's earlier call for systems attacks)

11/12/05: The Bruncefield Total/Texaco oil depot northwest of London exploded. The explosion was so intense, there is very little likelihood that any cause will be found. 400 tankers offload everyday at the facility which stores 4 million gallons of gasoline, diesel, kerosine, and aviation fuel. As one of the top 5 facilities in the UK, it supplies 5% of the country's energy needs.

I am fascinated by the analysis at Global Guerrillas regarding the ease with which energy infrastructure can be used as a weapon against those who use energy.

Anyone with a zip gun can bring down an oil or natural gas pipeline for a spell. It doesn't take much more than that to do lasting damage.

And the UK explosion highlights this weakness in a way that weekly attacks against the Iraqi pipelines do not; the UK explosion was actually in the mainstream western media.

If it is the case that the UK mishap is due to terrorist attack, there may well be a link to Iraq, that far off, dusky land where Bush played his Royal Flush as though it were a hand of Go Fish.

The UK explosion could just as well have been a short circuit, or a falling satellite, or a chunk of blue sky --

-- the point is, these tactics are now obvious.