So Now It's London

New York, Madrid, London... the bastards. The bloodied victims are so reminiscent of 9-11. Their images stir up the same anger and loathing and resolve.

The saddest commentary possible is that we don't know for sure which group of lunatics is responsible, [although we have a pretty good idea]. Is it an Islamic death cult? What about that good old standby, the IRA thugs? Anti-globalist activists? Take your choice. All are plausible.

If the goal of the terrorists is to undermine western resolve -- this isn't going to do it. But we are not really the target audience, are we? Their purpose is to show their followers around the world that they can strike, and strike hard anywhere.

My heart goes out to the people of London who have suffered this terrible, cowardly act.

MSNBC had a "terrorism expert" on. He didn't have anything substantive to say -- just jargon-sprinkled gibberish. Switched to FOX. They're getting on-site interviews, shots of people actually doing something instead of the static graphics over at MSNBC.There's a sense of immediacy.

Now 6:20 MSNBC is catching up -- linking to British reporters.

CNN's getting on the spot interviews with survivors -- just like FOX.

Nobody's gone to an Aruba update yet.

UPDATE:

FOX just broadcast an interview with a survivor. Granted, the guy wasn't thinking straight, but his immediate reaction was striking -- anger against "the authorities" for not having shut down the entire system when the first explosion took place, and "pity" for the perpetrators. This kind of reflex, I'm sorry to say, is far too common here in the West.

UPDATE:

The Guardian is liveblogging the story here.

This is an interesting development -- MSM sources running their own blogs. The barriers are breaking down-- our cozy little world of amateurish dissent is being invaded by the pros. One thought -- the great advantage TV has had over the print media is the immediacy of their response. Blogs provide something of the same "you are there" quality. As podcasting becomes more prevalent, distinct media channels will continue to converge.

Cool!

The Times has survivor accounts here.

A sample:

"People were really good, some people just took control, no one panicked, not in the carriages where we were.

"I am really worried about one guy I saw who was walking with a hole in the back of his head."
....
There was a loud bang and the train ground to a halt. People started panicking, screaming and crying as smoke came into the carriage. A man told everyone to be calm and we were led to safety along the track."

"Everyone was terrified when it happened. When they led us to safety, I went past the carriage where I think the explosion was. It was the second one from the front. The metal was all blown outwards and there were people inside being helped by paramedics.

Still no Aruba update.

FOX notes that this is the first G-8 summit since 9-11 at which terrorism was not scheduled to be a major subject of discussion. Nice catch!

Oh my! Rudy Guliani was in London. BBC interviewed him. Talk about deja vu all over again!

Hitchens weighs in with his commentary on the bombings here.

Still no Aruba update.... wonder why..., hope Greta is all right.

Ah, finally. At eleven pm Greta, back in New Jersey and healthy, finally gave us an update on the Aruba disappearance. It appears that the blond girl is still missing and her mother is still pissed.