9/11 24 years later

Update: on the eve of the 25th anniversary, see here “the doctrine of velayat‑e faqih (“guardianship of the jurist”) that structures Iran’s political system, then compares it with two other religion‑state models—Saudi Arabia’s Islamic monarchy and the Vatican’s papal theocracy—and with Jewish tradition, which develops a rich legal‑religious system (halakha) but does not instantiate a modern, centralized theocratic state. The aim is to clarify how different traditions conceive the relationship between religious authority and political sovereignty, especially as Iran faces a succession crisis around its new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei”.

***

Is it not incredible that a generation after, news items are still emerging about that beautiful yet fateful fall morning in NYC? I post it here because it is events in this geography that caused this chaos, like "the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas" (Edward Lorenz talk in 1972 to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, more here). I refer to my visit in Bahrain here for example or a later serendipitous reminder here.

In "24 years after 9/11, previously unseen images are still emerging. This group finds and publishes them" here, CNN highlights the 9/11 Media Preservation Group. I have a soft spot for them, as I'm still part of Extinction Rebellion Media Tell The Truth small WhatsApp group bird-dogging media around another topic of note, the Climate Emergency: I have since withdrawn from socials and from activism, focusing instead on a few small online groups of direct relevance; but my companion Andrew Zolnai Blog, "Web maps & AI for the public good" here, focussed among other things on uncovering "the story behind the story" ... and zoomed past 50K hits per month, I must be addressing something of worth!

This video also pulls at my heartstrings for three reasons, not taking away from the tragic event itself:

• I had such a video camera recording in VHS, and actually feel vicariously the shakiness & graininess that makes this testimony that much more genuine
• the story-behind-the-story - the FBI returning it without follow-up, the sleuthing to recover it, and the care taken to document step-by-step its provenance - not only ensures that credit is given where credit is due, but also shows real news in an era of fake news and inappropriate credit-taking
• finally, this is as-is testimony, neither enhanced nor sensationalized as it was in the immediate aftermath... as parents of then re-teens, we actually helped each other reduce media exposure at the time (luckily we had no TV then, if you can believe that) 

So let me relate again two aspects, little did I know how relevant they'd become a generation later.

Pre-Islamic State 

Four years ago, I posted here the Jihadist black standard, seen during demonstrations against the Second Intifada... but that was a decade before ISIS (Wikipedia) existed! Having seen in person the Arabic reaction to an Israeli internal conflict, little did I know I'd spend over a year in Kuwait experiencing the same on a day-to-day basis. That is what this blog is about... And in a nutshell, I understand Israel's existential crisis: I witnessed an environment where Israel didn't exist in current discourse; it was as if a premature sea level rise had brought the Mediterranean to the banks of the River Jordan... 

Imagine my surprise then, when I tested that scenario on the grandad of flooding & sea level rise maps here! Even the highest & ludicrous sea level rise submerged the Levant 'from behind' and not from 'the front' as surmised: respectively, the River Jordan & the Mediterranean; if Gaza is flat indeed, not so the hinterland up to the West Bank! Yet another example how maps help keep our thinking straight...

(click to enlarge)

Pre-breakfast 9/11 

The morning if 9/11 was a petroleum show in Austin TX. Thank God I had just picked up a rental car with a full tank of gas - I simply didn't drive all week, and that got me to Houston next, in a deathly eerie countryside... the like of which I'd not see again until under COVID! - the pandemonium that ensued didn't interrupt the show - indeed there were those who thought "the show must go on" in the exhibit area I attended as an exhibitor, and there were those who stopped demos out of respect and showed BBC streaming the internet... something that was not at all common 25 years ago, especially on big screen only available then for large conference venues... and don't ask why BBC not CNN for ex. - so I was there early to set up the booth. 

And guess who walks up as an early riser but my favorite acquaintance from Aramco?! One doesn't befriend clients in the Levant like one does in America - while Europe is stuck in the middle 😏 - so it's a singular pleasure if not an honor to have his visit. I bring him a coffee from a neighborinng exhibitor who offered an expresso to die for, and the closest to Turkish coffee... "apols for the lack of cardamom" I quipped, to which he replied "oh! I forgot my stash", with a grin to light up the somber atmosphere of the collapsing Twin Towers cycling endlessly behind us. The funniest however, was that once it became apparent two hijacked aiplanes had been flown into the towers - that only after a couple of hours -  I immediately thought of Gulf country-sponsored terrorists, and he immediately thought of Palestinians or from neighboring countries. We were both right as it turned out, but in the moment, he was gracious enough to ignore my potential faux-pas - Saudis aren't Gulf Countries Council, but their economics, politics & socials align if not their religious strictness - and we broke out laughing such that it turned heads... did I mention one doesn't befriend middle-Easterners even - or perhaps especially - in Texas oil country?

Pre-sent (sic)

Little did I know how relevant those two vignettes would be still today, even in the post-Islamic State as described here - do cut over there for another telling video - or here in this blog...