Posted on 27-5-2004

Olympic Dreams... And Nightmares
by Alan Marston

It's sure to be the worst nightmare amoung many nightmares for the
organisers of the Athens Summer Olympics: terrorists setting off a
primitive nuclear device in or near Athens during the conduct of the
games.

Everything has its complement. In this instance the Olympic games were
about internationalism balancing out the threats of nationalism. Now that
nations have been rendered almost irrelevant, at least economically, by
globalisation, politics will follow as it always does follow economics;
politics will be gutted of national sovereignty and with it
internationalism. Threats of violcence are now increased by gatherings of
people from all around the world, not, as in the passed, decreased. Such
is one of the bitter fruit of `Global Corp'.

Worse, political/economic ends have always generated some who will feel
justified in use of destructive means. And such means have never been more
destructive nor more publicised by the propaganda about WMD.

Whereas terrorist networks may find it extremely hard, if not impossible,
to manufacture a ‘normal' nuclear bomb, this certainly doesn't apply to a
‘dirty' bomb. All that's needed is a sizeable amount of radioactive
substances - nuclear waste will do - and a regular bomb. Although there
will be no mushroom cloud, not even a massive explosion, the psychological
impact of such a weapon is set to equal that of a classical nuclear bomb.

Call in those who know most about WMDs. On 4 May, Jackie Sanders, US
Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament confirmed that the US is
currently working with the Greek government and the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) to head off a potential nuclear attack at the Summer
Olympics. Also from the US, the commercial intelligence think tank
Stratfor last week reported that the IAEA is coordinating security
measures with Athens, and that the US and France are also actively
involved. The total cost of the security effort is estimated at 30 million
dollars. The measures are said to include placing nuclear detection gates
at Greek airports and harbours, along key railway tracks and "much, much
more". "The IAEA is taking the possibility of a dirty-bomb attack
extremely seriously," Stratfor writes.

The Athens Olympic Sports Complex, the central venue of the 2004 Games.
Earlier, Reuters news agency managed to get hold of an internal IAEA
document in which the UN agency pledges to "provide advice and equipment
to prevent and detect any unauthorized use of nuclear and other
radioactive materials" during the Olympics.

The Greek authorities themselves won't release any details about the
security measures surrounding the Games. However, in a general statement,
Athens confirmed that it is preparing for a possible attack involving
chemical, biological and radiological weapons. Greece has requested NATO
assistance in the security effort, but the Atlantic alliance has yet to
take a decision on the precise nature of its involvement.

However the complement of globalisation is not anti-globalisation nor is
it nationalism. The way to peace amoung peoples is more freedom for each
to control there lives, and that means a global economy OK, one in which
people are not subject to money but the reverse. The reverse-economy has
people trading on the most ancient of all tradeable rights, fairness... at
a global trade fair. The reverse Olympics would not be about money, it
would take us back to the root, human endeavour.