If you, like me, were only peripherally aware of last week's catastrophic fires in Greece, and kind of filed it under 'Natural Disasters 2007 - Probably Some Climate Change Angle?' - THINK AGAIN! Refile: 'Natural Disasters 2007 - Intense Potential Terrorism Angle?'
At least 63 people have died during the past three days as Greece’s worst fires in living memory obliterated swaths of forests and emptied villages from Evros in the north to the western islands of Corfu and Kefalonia, and the Peloponnese in the south...
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has indicated that many blazes were intentionally set. The fires appeared likely to dominate political debate before early parliamentary elections on Sept. 16: Karamanlis’ government has come under fire for what some saw as a tepid response to fires earlier this summer, and many think government did not react quickly enough to the most recent blazes.
On Sunday, Polydoras implied a deliberate plan was in motion. “We can say that this truly constitutes an asymmetric threat,” he said, without elaborating.
Greece’s main opposition Socialist party demanded Karamanlis provide proof that there was such a plan.
“If he doesn’t provide evidence then he is undermining the country,” Socialist Party leader George Papandreou said.
Environmentalists are calling bullshit too, but the ever-utterly-focused John Robb thinks otherwise :
Greece may be under assault, with fires burning in over half of the country. The vast majority of blazes were likely set deliberately (the Prime Minister is already claiming this), given the geographical breadth and the number of new events. For example, over a 24 hour period 200 new fires were started across the country. The timing of these attacks could not have been worse (or selected with more care): a heatwave, a dry winter, strong winds, and lots of fuel have combined to make these fires deadly.
What is even more troubling, according to my Greek sources, is that most of the fires have been set around the country's biggest electricity plants. So the potential for a cascading cycle of damage, where the fires knock out electricity production which in turn hampers relief is in the offing. If this is true, on the cheap systems disruption on a strategic scale may have made it's debut in a modern country. The ROIs on this attack are going to be amazing and it looks like the loss in legitimacy the current government is suffering will decide the upcoming election.
Paranoid? ...Maybe. Totally implausible? Nah. Intriguing? YES. Intense? Yeah obv, have I mentioned how critically crucial his Brave New War is? Not advocating, like, endless war or emergency climate action for that matter, mind you, etc -
