Anxious Visions in a Blue Screen

Like many Australians, I had just finished watching the live telecast of Donald Trump’s inspiring speech at last week’s Republican Convention following his miraculous survival of an assassination attempt when, suddenly, the screen pixelated then died. Trump had just recounted how he had survived the sniper’s bullet that nipped his ear just as he turned his head to look at a screen showing illegal immigration numbers, The coverage immediately  suffered the equivalent of sudden cardiac arrest.

We didn’t know why, but at the same moment, other news channels also went on the blink, along with supermarket checkouts, banking systems, a wide range of commercial enterprises and health networkss. Lines formed at airports as flights were cancelled globally and aircraft  at some international airports were placed on holding patterns as runways were occupied by planes unable to take off. We were soon informed by a couple of stalwarts on Sky News that it was all the result of a “glitch” with a Microsoft systems update by US-based cyber security firm CrowdStrike. Chaos reigned, but we were assured it was not the result of a cyber attack. What the @#? How could this be?

Perhaps my mind works in strange ways but it tripped back more than a quarter century in its own version of the Tardis to New Year’s Eve 1999, when we were all warned that what has just happened now was about to happen then. The Y2k Bug was about to bite and civilisation as we knew it would crumble — planes would drop from the sky, public utilities such as water, sewerage, power, food supplies would suddenly be disrupted as clocks ticked past midnight. This was all supposed to happen because computer programmers had abbreviated years to the last two digits – 1999 was 99 and 2000 was just 00 and “experts” predicted the world’s computers wouldn’t be able to distinguish between the end of the previous century and the dawning of the new millennium. Where would we be without experts?

Where would we be without experts?

Governments around the world had invested billions in attempts to cope with the predicted after-effects and many credulous citizens stocked up on canned food, water, cash, weapons and other necessities. But when midnight had passed it was quickly obvious that nothing bad was happening.  Civilisation survived, along with its computers, and governments of course claimed credit for their “preventative action”. According to the University of Queensland’s impeccable leftist John Quiggan:

Despite an expenditure estimated at $A12 billion in Australia (Campbell 2000) and as much as $US 500 billion for the world as a whole, no serious ex post evaluation has been undertaken. In this paper, it will be argued that, although some relatively minor problems were prevented, and some collateral benefits were realised, most money spent specifically on Y2K compliance exercises was wasted. Moreover, it will be argued, evidence available early in 1999, should have been sufficient to justify the adoption of a less costly strategy of ‘fix on failure’…

That was then, this is now. A much quoted line from likely US Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris following Joe Biden’s withdrawal, “What can be, unburdened by what has been,” might actually have a glimmer of sense in this context. But I’m sure she wouldn’t have known that in between her fits of the laughter, which would put Queensland Premier Steven ‘Giggles’ Miles to shame.

What we thought might happen back then actually has happened now (and almost on a similar scale) so just imagine what could happen if there was an actual cyber attack by such a powerful player as China, Russia, North Korea or an evil axis of all three. No need to drop a bomb, just unleash the cyber gremlins.

The vulnerability of our ever-more digitally dependent way of life seems incomprehensible but it’s obviously a reality.  More than 8.5 million computers around the world were affected, and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil told the ABC it could take up to a fortnight to get all our systems up and running: “CrowdStrike informed the meeting this morning (Sunday)  that they are now close to rolling out an automatic fix to the issue with their update, as is Microsoft. This should increase the speed at which systems across the economy are back online,” Ms O’Neil added that “while some supermarkets were still experiencing issues”, there was no reason to fear food shortages and no need to stockpile. All this should ring huge alarm bells against moves to introduce digital IDs and digital currencies or to believe all our governments tell us is for our own benefit. In these post-Covid years, trust in government edicts is probably and deservedly at an all-time low.

In these post-Covid years, trust in government edicts is probably and deservedly at an all-time low.

Perhaps this latest mass outage was entirely innocent, but some have already pointed to links between CrowdStrike, its major shareholders, Blackrock and Vanguard (both with more than 16 million shares) and claimed ties with the World Economic Forum. That’s the international  group calling for a New World Order, led by the Bond-villainesque Klaus Schwab. A few years ago it featured a promotion with the message, “You will own nothing and you will be happy …” Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr also has warned that the mega-funds are “robbing Americans of the ability to own homes.” He claims they are on track to own “60 percent of American family homes by 2030”. Investigative journalist Whitney Webb has also warned of Blackrock’s manipulation of carbon credits and Bitcoin to “tokenize everything”:

Conspiracy theories? You be the judge, but remember, what were dismissed as wild conspiracies and misinformation a few short years ago on topics such as Covid vaccine mandates, effectiveness and safety are now widely accepted as fact.

John Mikkelsen is a former editor of three Queensland regional newspapers, columnist,  freelance writer and author of the memoir, Don’t Call Me Nev