Terror in All Eventuality

Following the events of September 11 th 2001 the “uncertain” has become all the more certain in meaning. The two most notorious “flights” in history have contributed to a global (in)security situation in which we have all in one way or another become connected through an assured vulnerability to the catastrophic “event-to-come”. This dangerous certainty unfortunately seems to be the only truism of the 21 st Century. Naturally, facing these conditions the strategic landscape has been radically transformed. With security broadened in scope and deepened in meaning, governmental reason has been forced to confront each and every potential threat posed to our settled political existence. However, whilst these efforts could be seen to be indicative of a new global humanism, one which is properly concerned with protecting life from all manner of violent and traumatic encounters, they do not necessarily guarantee any prospect of success. To the contrary, the advances made in complexity thinking have taught us a rather disturbing lesson: despite our most strident attempts, radically interconnected and dynamic systems cannot be calculated with absolute precision. With another attack by all accounts “inevitable”, at best, it is hoped that our efforts will disrupt capacities for destruction, improve our early warning systems, or make our logistical arrangements more responsive when dealing with the aftermath of some future attack. To be expected, in this climate the Global War on Terror has moved well beyond bringing the perpetrators of 9/11 to justice. Tasked with protecting the future productive vitality of all species existence—not to mention the critical infrastructure which sustains that existence, it has become a generic term for a planetary security effort which is increasingly taking all life to be its object.