Every international crisis throws up its own lexicon, from the chummy phrasings and song-lines of the World War II to the cynical euphemisms of "collateral damage" or "ethnic cleansing."
These times are no different. Since the attacks, a number of words have began to stand out. (Interestingly, the events were so huge that they do not yet have an easy shorthand title: No one has tried to coin Twintowergate, or even offered a basic Black Tuesday; most Americans refer to it as "that Tuesday," or simply by the date itself: Sept. 11, 2001.)
* Armageddon, apocalypse: Apparently interchangeable terms normally used to denote the end of the world. Technically, Armageddon actually means the battle between good and evil which will accompany the end of the world, and apocalypse means a vision of that battle.
* Asymmetric (or asymmetrical) warfare: Previously used by military tacticians to mean, mainly, the actions of terrorist groups against superpowers; but now means also attempts to fight back.
* Ground zero: The point of impact of a conventional missile or the point of detonation of an atomic device. Ground zero in this case is used to mean the rubble at the bases of where the twin towers stood.
* Collateral damage: Ironically, the term coined during the Gulf War to mean civilian casualties is now being used in its literal sense; numerous articles have used the phrase to denote the concomitant damage to the economy through the effect on shares, airlines, jobs and so on.
* Folks: President George Bush's first gaffe of the crisis, since offered repeatedly by critics as evidence of a lack of sophistication. He used it on the first day when he spoke of his desire to "hunt down and find these folks ..." and compounded the hoedown image by speaking of "tinhorn terrorists.
* Operation Infinite Justice: Short-lived term to denote the US military plan to defeat bin Laden and terrorism. The name has now been dropped because of offensive connotations: "infinite justice" is something which, to Islam, can only be meted out by Allah.
* Crusade: What President Bush announced on Tuesday. The White House apologized for the term the next day, given that the crusades brought slaughter to thousands of innocent Arabs and Jews.
* Jihad: Technically, this means the struggle to do good, referring to a battle with the conscience over the right course of action at any point in life, menial or significant. It only came to be associated with the idea of a 'holy war' after the crusades.
* War: What we are either at, or not. "Whatever the technical and legal issues about a declaration of war," said Tony Blair last week, "the fact is that we are at war with terrorism."
The fact is we have not been officially at war since 1945. War was never declared over the Falklands, or between the US and Vietnam.
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
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