{"id":9802,"date":"2020-01-05T23:44:47","date_gmt":"2020-01-06T04:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spinor.info\/weblog\/?p=9802"},"modified":"2020-01-05T23:44:47","modified_gmt":"2020-01-06T04:44:47","slug":"uncanny-coincidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spinor.info\/weblog\/?p=9802","title":{"rendered":"Uncanny coincidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in 1944, Astounding Science Fiction magazine published a short story, Deadline<\/em> by Cleve Cartmill<\/a>, about a devastating war on an alien planet, and the development of a uranium fission bomb. The details of the bomb were sketchy, but at least a few of the details provided (about isotope separation, about the concern that a fission explosion might “ignite” nearby matter and cause global devastation) were sufficiently accurate to earn the magazine a visit by the FBI.<\/p>\n

Something similarly uncanny happened three days ago, when the New York Times published an opinion piece by a former Obama aid about hypersonic missiles<\/a>. The article included, among other things, the following paragraph: “What if the former commander of Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards, Qassim Suleimani, visits Baghdad for a meeting and you know the address? The temptations to use hypersonic missiles will be many.”<\/p>\n

Hours later, Suleimani was killed at Baghdad airport (although not by a hypersonic missile, just an ordinary drone strike.)<\/p>\n

I doubt Mr. Trump was acting on the advice of a former Obama aid, so almost certainly, this was pure coincidence. But that is just uncanny.<\/p>\n

The consequences of the Suleimani attack, unfortunately, are another matter. One has to wonder if there was any real thinking, any real strategy. Even Fox’s Tucker Carlson chose to question<\/a> the wisdom of this act, blasting the hawks who may have been responsible for talking Trump into taking this reckless step.<\/p>\n