Black Propaganda and Blankets Redux

[Christine Karatnytsky]

Well, hm, I've just climbed in from the window, having been hanging out
on my fire escape.  In case you're wondering, it's 7 floors above the
northwest corner of Central Park.  Looking northwards I can see the
glowing spires of the Southern Baptist churches of Harlem.  Southwards
stands the ghostly phallus of the Empire State Building.  In the middle,
which is not so much excluded as it is extraordinary for a city so ready
to clobber one as New York, lies the dark green (goodness--dare I say
"peaceful?") wood of a great public space.  An unlikely middle, which we
often liken to a beating heart.  Is the air is sweet?  Can you see the
stars and the dark trunks of trees?  Does the sound of traffic fade when
you walk deep into the park?

I've just been reading the NY Press.  Cockburn's column this week is a
pretty good one, with a tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice William
Brennan and an item about brother Patrick C., The Independent's Jerusalem
correspondent.  Of particular interest (to me anyway), is the item I
mentioned earlier today, called "Spies and Drugs," with this about the
smallpox virus and a curious reference apropos of Andrew's mention of the
Schwarzkommando.

This section is about Dr. Wouter Basson, a cardiologist AC calls "one of
the chieftains of South Africa's chemical and biological weapons program"
who was caught trying to sell 1000 black market ecstasy tablets:

"...Also part of Basson empire was Roodeplatt Research Laboratories, a
military research installation near Pretoria.  Activities of this secret
research facility included the testing and manufacture of poison gas,
apparently used in combat at least once in Mozambique.

Also tested at Roodeplatt Research labs were lethal poisons designed to
leave no traces.  There were efforts to develop skin pigmentation pills
to change white government agents into blacks, the better to infiltrate
groups.  In a reprise of the smallpox blankets given to American Indians
in the 19th Century, infected t-shirts were to be distributed in black
townships to spread disease and infertility.  Tests on baboons involved
cancer-spreading drugs.  An anti-riot dog weighing 200 lbs was bred from
a mix of an Alsatian and a Russian Wolf Hound."

It's likely, I suppose, that you're all already familiar with this stuff.
 Who knows, Steely, at least, has probably been around this block.  It
was an eye-catching item, and certainly adds another twist to the notion
of 'Black Propaganda' eh?  (But upon reading it, I wouldn't say that's
there's any great evidence pointing towards Cockburn having read M&D. 
Not that it really matters...)

Speaking of Steely, the other item of note to p-listers is a piece about
the seemingly inevitable deforestation of our national parks,
particularly those in the California Sierras, due to a doubling of
logging by the likes of junk bond loser Michael Miliken and Las Vegas
huckster Steve Winn.  There is a familiar credit at the end, "This item
was written with Jeffrey St. Clair."

WRT Heikki's nice post, I'd like to add that if indeed in/for M&D "
places are not fully integrated in actions,"  it may also be cause these
places are there to be discovered.  They haunt, yes, with mystery--but
they tease a little, too, don't they?  The promise of adventure, the glow
of terra incognita, the stranger waiting to be met.  And let's hope that
stranger ain't a checkered demon, shall we? 

Chris, waxing a tad rhapsodic under the influence of Jody, John, and
Heikki (nice posts, all), or maybe it's because she's home, safer than
she was before from Their prying corporate eyes, but, hm...what *is* a
checkered demon, eh?