Sensible security

This is the first time I am taking planes since the presumed averted serious terrorist threat in the UK. The situation is beacoming insane. Getting off a plane, I was leaving the airport of Toronto and was not allowed to buy and take with me a bottle of mineral water (I was supposed to empty it in a plastic glass and take the glass with me)...

I wonder what the cost of paranoia is and who really believes that security measures that prevent people from taking fluids with them will solve the root cause of increased insecurity since 2001. We've spent five years waging wars, creating security policies, procedures and agencies, abducting "suspects" (see about the investigation of the European Parliament) and sending them to less than democratic countries for "tough"interrogation and throwing money out the window in military initiatives that lead nowhere.

Now the cost of war operations is SEVERAL TIMES the entire budget of the Marshall Plan of the 1950s; are we really investing our money in the best possible way to defeat terrorism, to build lasting peace and support durable development? By the way, terrorism in Greek is called "Tromokratia", which has the same structure as the word "democracy" (Dimokratia) and it means "political power by fear" (democracy means "political power by the people")... Perhaps in our times more than ever before fear is a means by which to exert political power. Today on Slashdot there was reference to an interesting article (read "What the terrorists want") written by someone who seems to have a very sensible way to approach security.

Food for thought...