WELL PRIMED

Nivanh Chanthara

It could have been done in secret. But that was not the point.
Instead it was done with maximum impact.
Blocked off streets. Clogged airports. 
A government which had ignored all advice to make the nation's airports safer and wasted millions on prolonged inquiries was now deliberately inconveniencing millions of travellers.
Just to make themselves feel safer. Hold fast their own grip on power, now that the time was ripe. 
A madness gripped the planet. 
The old gods were at war.
The security agencies were at war. 
The politicians were beyond contempt. 
The Tables of Knowledge grew ever closer unto themselves.
The social divides drew greater.
It was a single step from fantasy to reality.
The populace had been well primed.
The warriors died for what they believed, sacrificing not just themselves but their wives and children. Allah Akbar. 
Australian bureaucrats worked their fat cat prescribed seven hours and 11 minutes; tormenting the less fortunate, those without government jobs.
The politicians were just the pimples on a puss ridden corpse; democracy a show trial, the heavily manipulated populace stricken with normality bias. They could not understand what they did not know.
The situation couldn't possibly be as bad as he sometimes thought.
"You have no idea. No idea how bad it is. How great the swindle. How horrific the compromise we are all being asked to make."
Step by terrible step.
Dripping stalagmites, of a substance not found on earth, reached down from the sky.
Transcendental, transformational, trans-dimensional, these were creatures breaking into a twilight space, a well-prepared field.
The covens which had spread through the suburbs watched his every move.
The Boschnian hummingbirds, having done their job, retreated; a hovering sound, frightening. 
The compromise is too great, one of the Watchers on the Watch decried in faux camp outrage; for in the end they did not care, they were paid. Forced to put down the ribald language for a time, they could find other things to do. Other ways to torment their targets. 
They knew too much. 
They would have their brains sucked out alive. 
Their own filthy traps had trapped themselves.
He had told them all along, surveillance was not just an abuse, but a two-way mirror wired with genuine evil. They could not emerge unscathed. 
The birds, mythical in their haunted character,  retreated just in time to spare the feeble consciousnesses on duty.
The AIs had no idea what to do but report, and cross-reference. Continue their silent observation.
They found enough to know that nothing normal was gong on here; the animal duties, the furry, funny, human creatures which they husbanded, which had been so seriously locked in their own diversions, mass entertainment, that they were gone for good. 
Dreams of the past gone for good.  
But it was all too late. Nothing would save the subjugated population, the country, or, more precisely, nothing could save the original emphasis of the country, freedom, self-reliance, hard work, compassionate care for one's own family. A participant democracy, where everyone had a say, where everyone was encouraged to be bold, to speak out.
The drift towards a totalitarian state was almost complete.
Almost no one would live to tell the tale. No one that knew the true story. 
The crowd crawled straight into the jaws of that crazed dog, the future.

THE BIGGER STORY:

Australian airportts

THE tip-off Australian police received over a conspiracy to bring down a passenger plane came from foreign intelligence sources on the verge of issuing a public travel warning, according to media reports.

It’s understood intelligence agencies in the UK and US tipped off Australian forces under the Five Eyes arrangement — which also includes New Zealand and Canada — about the plot that may have been carried out within days.

The ABC’s 7:30 reports Australian police had hoped to gather more evidence before taking people into custody however the UK government said it would issue a public security threat if the raids did not happen immediately.

A UK Home Office spokesman said: “We do not comment on intelligence matters.”

It’s been reported communications intercepted from Syria were the source of the intelligence.

One of the men in custody has been named as Bulldog’s supporter Khaled Khayat. He has not been charged but remains in police custody with three other men who are assisting inquiries.

Mosul, Iraq

Raqqa – Sick and injured civilians within and outside Raqqa city are facing major difficulties obtaining urgent lifesaving medical care due to the ongoing battle to control the northeastern Syrian city, says international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

MSF calls on all warring parties and their allies to ensure the protection of civilians and allow access to medical care and medical evacuation for the war-wounded. MSF also reiterates the importance of facilitating access to northeast Syria for international demining organisations to carry out their activities so that residents can return to their homes safely and aid organisations can provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance.

“Patients tell us large numbers of sick and wounded people are trapped inside Raqqa city with little or no access to medical care and scant chance of escaping the city,” says Vanessa Cramond, MSF medical coordinator for Turkey and north Syria.