Risk assessment

I got my numbers wrong in the previous posting, sorry for that. Let's do the math again.

New York, 9/11/01: 2974 casualties
Bali, 10/12/02: 202 casualties
Madrid, 3/11/04: 191 casualties
London, 7/7/05: 52 casualties
Mumbai, 7/11/06: 209 casualties
Glasgow, 6/30/07: 0 casualties

Total: 3628 victims of terror, so I should I have said far less than 5,000 people were killed by terror in this century in the western world.

According to the Food and Agriculture Administration of the UN, more than 25,000 people starve daily. The daily loss of life due to our economic system is five times higher than the death toll due to terror in the last six years.

About 2,000 to 2,500 people annually committed suicide in Australia in this millenium.

According to the Lancet study, 655,000 people were killed in Iraq from March 2003 to June 2006. Assuming a similar rate of killing for the period from July 2006 until now brings the number up to 850,000 (conservatively). The estimate of about 150,000 to 250,000 during six years of war in a country with more than 30 million population seems very conservative, however, as both areas are still war zones just estimates are possible.

The use of Depleted Uranium and daisy cutters bombs increases civilian casualties even without actual fights, intoxicates former arable land and turns farming into a deadly adventure. The website Afghanistan after Democracy gives you an idea of the mutations caused by DU (warning: very graphic images).

Although the US rulez "war on terror" killing game is far from over, it is virtually impossible to catch up for the terrorists.

Terrorists: 4,000 Governments: 1,100,000
Corporatism (death by starvation): 60,000,000
(all estimates for 21st century)

I consider myself in first place as an Earthian. The winner in this cruel game are corporative interests fostered by governments, the loser is humanity.

And all of that because of the myth of scarcity. In the height of the cold war, 1983, Richard Buckminster Fuller, the Leonardo da Vinci of the 20th century stated:

In 1970 it could, for the time, be engineeringly demonstrated that, applying the most advanced know-how to the conservation and use of the world's resources, we can, within ten years of from-killigry-to-livingry reoriented world production, have all humanity enjoying a sustainably higher standard of living than any humans have ever heretofore experienced. It could be further demonstrated that we can do this while simultaneously phasing out all further Earthians' use of fossil fuels and atomic energy.

Bucky Fuller, Grunch of Giants (emphasize not in the original)

PS: I kind of feel very uneasy as international student in this country right now. The way in which Dr. Haneef is treated reminds me very much of the dark times in Germany. He is - in the view of the government, represented by Mr. Andrews - guilty by association, and while being here an temporary visa, the century old legal principle of "guilty until proven innocent" seem not to apply any more in Australia. While Ms. Payne, the judge that tried to keep up legal principles, granted him bail, because there is simply no evidence backing his alleged support of a terrorist group, the minister of immigration knows better than a judge.

This arbitrary interpretation of legal principles scares me a lot. I wouldn't be surprised, if in the near future the slogan "Don't buy at muslim shops" is propagated. It seems like the government has decided to scare skilled immigrants off. I'm used to live in a relatively free society and to speak my mind. But neither the Liberals nor Labour seem to have a problem to mix up legislative, executive and judicative powers, so that one of the basic principles of democracy, the separation of powers, has been abolished.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Martin Niemöller

I don't know whether one of you will speak out, when someone comes for me. But as long as terror paranoia can justify arbitrary decisions like in the case of Dr. Haneef, without any public outrage and severe consequences for those in government making their own rules, I feel like history is repeating. And I still doubt that 88 Australian victims in Bali justify the abolition of civil rights and centuries old legal principles.

PPS: Obviously, 2002 was the climax of terror victims from an Australian perspective. Rational Fear provides data as it was collected by the World Health Organisation. For your convenience, I pulled the data for people between 20-24 for this year to help you a bit in your personal risk assessment.

In 2002 in Australia the leading causes of death for men in that age group were:

1. 84 (0.012%) deaths from:
* Intentional self-harm by hanging, strangulation and suffocation - Intentional self-harm by hanging, strangulation and suffocation, unspecified place (X709)
2. 48 (0.007%) deaths from:
* Car occupant injured in collision with fixed or stationary object - Car occupant injured in collision with fixed or stationary object, driver, traffic accident (V475)
3. 18 (0.003%) deaths from:
* Accidental poisoning by and exposure to other and unspecified drugs, medicaments and biological substances - Accidental poisoning by and exposure to other and unspecified drugs, medicaments and biological substances, unspecified place (X449)
4. 17 (0.003%) deaths from:
* Pedestrian injured in collision with car, pick-up truck or van - Pedestrian injured in collision with car, pick-up truck or van, traffic accident (V031)
5. 17 (0.003%) deaths from:
* Intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to other gases and vapours - Intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to other gases and vapours, unspecified place (X679)
6. 15 (0.002%) deaths from:
* Accidental poisoning by and exposure to narcotics and psychodysleptics [hallucinogens], not elsewhere classified - Accidental poisoning by and exposure to narcotics and psychodysleptics [hallucinogens], not elsewhere classified, unspecified place (X429)
7. 14 (0.002%) deaths from:
* Car occupant injured in collision with car, pick-up truck or van - Car occupant injured in collision with car, pick-up truck or van, driver, traffic accident (V435)
8. 13 (0.002%) deaths from:
* Car occupant injured in collision with heavy transport vehicle or bus - Car occupant injured in collision with heavy transport vehicle or bus, driver, traffic accident (V445)
9. 12 (0.002%) deaths from:
* Car occupant injured in collision with fixed or stationary object - Car occupant injured in collision with fixed or stationary object, passenger, traffic accident (V476)

In 2002 in Australia the leading causes of death for women in that age group were:

1. 14 (0.002%) deaths from:
* Intentional self-harm by hanging, strangulation and suffocation - Intentional self-harm by hanging, strangulation and suffocation, unspecified place (X709)
2. 8 (0.001%) deaths from:
* Car occupant injured in collision with car, pick-up truck or van - Car occupant injured in collision with car, pick-up truck or van, driver, traffic accident (V435)
3. 7 (0.001%) deaths from:
* Car occupant injured in collision with fixed or stationary object - Car occupant injured in collision with fixed or stationary object, driver, traffic accident (V475)
4. 6 (0.001%) deaths from:
* Myeloid leukaemia - Acute myeloid leukaemia (C920)
5. 6 (0.001%) deaths from:
* Accidental poisoning by and exposure to other and unspecified drugs, medicaments and biological substances - Accidental poisoning by and exposure to other and unspecified drugs, medicaments and biological substances, unspecified place (X449)
6. 5 (0.001%) deaths from:
* Car occupant injured in collision with car, pick-up truck or van - Car occupant injured in collision with car, pick-up truck or van, passenger, traffic accident (V436)
7. 5 (0.001%) deaths from:
* Car occupant injured in collision with heavy transport vehicle or bus - Car occupant injured in collision with heavy transport vehicle or bus, driver, traffic accident (V445)
8. 5 (0.001%) deaths from:
* Car occupant injured in collision with fixed or stationary object - Car occupant injured in collision with fixed or stationary object, passenger, traffic accident (V476)

I'm very tempted to kindly ask the next one, who wants to remind me of the threat that terrorism poses, to commit suicide. The age group 40-44 which pushes suicide to the second place (for males), but just because the counting distinguishes between different methods of suicide. Once you made it to 55, the suicidal tendencies decrease. Women tend to be less suicidal, but it's still the primary reaper for females between 15 and 30.