<nettime> war design

[human being <schizo@sirius.com>]

     [orig to design-l@lists.psu.edu, CCed to nettime]

 the architectural (re-development) machine

 [from a private, now edited, if naive letter written to a friend]

 thinking about the war. check out CNN.COM "Strike on Yugoslavia"
 website for the NATO Arsenal Databank of all the technologies
 being used. just got done with a week of war games in Alameda,
 saw a nuclear submarine. saw a harriar jet in flight (vertical),
 saw tanks, a stealth ship. toured a ship. saw bombs. has me
 thinking about architecture school and the gulf war. puts my
 mind in the past, like that of warriors, soldiers of the empire,
 that is, america as civilization. the marines like roman offensive
 troops defining the outer edge of our american reality. it has my
 mind in a spin. at once in awe and outrage. complexity of decisions.
 of foreign policy. of peace and death. of bombs as big as my apartment.
 planes bigger than houses. ships as big as stadiums. nuclear weapons
 one level away from use. that is, when conventional war turns to a
 .. hot war, that is, well, you know-- the cold war is back on.
 but this time it may be a hot war. nuclear if it gets out of hand.
 .. 5 or 10 years down the line, a rogue nation might stand
 up and be supported by a ... country with nuclear
 capabilities, then it is the 1970s 'bunker' mentality all over again.
 if i were president (who, by surviving the lewinsky scandel and all
 the others, i think qualifies him as a "Master Politician" of the
 highest order)- i don't know what i would do differently. Clinton
 is being a leader, which is a traditional (Post-WWII) American
 stance, i think. trying to pre-empt a future war, but, from much
 of the analysis i've heard, it may be too late, or not a good enough
 strategy because it didn't work (air assault alone) without ground
 troops in Vietnam, which is eerily similar to some commentators.
 then, there's Iraq. an intelligence list i am on says that the
 US may be in backwater talks with Iraq about ceding southern
 Iraq for a US military base and allowing US monitoring of their
 military in exchange for stopping the war campaign there. if
 not, it seems like we have a few fires lit and less military
 troops than ever, and that our leading might be in jeopardy if
 we cannot follow through with our own troops - and our ...
 allies start giving us trouble...  also, reports that MIG
 fighters were intercepted and Yeltsin pulling out diplomats is
 a clear signal that the ice-cube has melted on the cold war..
 ... 28,000 peace keeping troops is
 a large force. if it takes 28,000 to keep peace, i wonder if
 peace is possible. i wonder what the Korean DMZ lines each have
 amassed (?) it is really scary to think the way/s this could
 play out...
 wondering about the role of architecture in a world of wars.
 Lebbeus Woods talked about warchitecture - but i have a different
 take/interest -- thatis, what about pursuing/championing/promoting
 policy (such as architectural policies of housing, energy-efficient
 solar tract homes, housing the homeless, revitalizing city-centers,
 rebuilding/renovating low-income homes) which would limit the US
 involvement in foreign policy areas that are currently a threat
 to our National Security. such that, if we designed/built more
 energy efficient houses, requiring less/no oil, then our national
 security would no longer be at risk as it is for the foreseeable
 future, in the Gulf region. there has got to be a connection between
 architecture and war. one way of it is through 'redevelopment' of a
 nation after defeat. the rebuilding of a new economy, society, demo-
 cratic politic. that is part of the American war-machine. it is an
 architectural machine in a sublime sense. it is about skyscrapers
 and pricey real-estate in the end it seems, and amassing wealth
 for an upper, elite class of professionals. maybe the U.S. is
 about ushering in the "New World" Order, in an anthropological-
 archaeological sense, Columbus 2000 (isn't that the name of one
 of the US Space Shuttles?) still conquering new/old terrains.

 [ps, have in my head my geography class i dropped out of, when i
 had to do a report on Vietnam, because no one else would do it.
 i researched and kept on coming across the fact of the Asian oil
 pocket off the coast of Vietnam, and that it is one of the more
 promissing areas of oil exploration and i wonder if, looking back,
 that too was a war for oil... ]

 [[ or for changing it to an American eco|soc|pol-cultural order..]]

 [[[[what has changed?]]]]]]]

bc

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