A rather unlikely idea roaming the internet has finally found some serious mass-media exposure: A theory that the USA is responsible for the massive recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile.
Indeed, according to a column today from today’s Monocle magazine — a large number of Chileans are convinced the 8.8 quake on February 27th was not an act of God, but rather an act of the Gringos.
(Full disclosure: Transracial is a regular Monocle contributor — and lovin’ it!)
It’s a pan-American conspiracy theory and — while clearly far-fetched — has got some curious science behind it. The story has floated around the Net for a few weeks now, but suddenly real media folks are beginning to tout its bona fides.
So the theory is like this: Up in Alaska — AKA the Palin-sphere — is the HQ for HAARP; aka High Frequency Active Aural Research Program.
HAARP maintains a pretty low profile owing to the secrecy of what it actually does. Since I was absent on marine-meets-military-meets-meteorological-experiments day, I’ll leave the explaining to ace Monocle contributor Jonathan Franklin.
He writes:
(HAARP is) a mysterious weather and radar experiment centre based in rural Alaska, which routinely swallows billions of dollars in US government funding. The centre emits high-frequency radio waves that are beamed up to the ionosphere (the uppermost part of the atmosphere) where they are naturally converted to extremely low frequency waves, useful in military applications like communication with submarines deep in the ocean. Tapping into the massive energy of the ionosphere also opens up a host of science fiction scenarios where the atmosphere’s energy is channeled and manipulated by evil American forces bent on provoking “natural” disasters.
The Haiti-Chile connections comes next:
The internet-based conspiracy theory blames HAARP for the quake and describes the distant Alaskan military operation as a machine designed to zap apart tectonic plates to induce an earthquake. How the HAARP radio waves cause earthquakes is top secret (of course) but Chilean newspaper La Nacion, funded by the government, pushed the conspiracy with a headline “HAARP: Science or earthquake machine?”
Franklin also note similarities between HAARP and other long-rumored US Government sci-fi cover-ups — along with the State Department’s longtime penchant for regime-change throughout the Monroe Doctrine basin.
Like the mysterious Area 51 in Nevada where the US Air Force has long been accused of hiding captured aliens, the HAARP conspiracy taps into the seemingly endless power of the US government to control everything (the weather in this case). It also plays on deep-rooted sensitivities over Washington’s history foul play in the region (in Chile’s case, the often clandestine support of dictator Augusto Pinochet who was backed by the Nixon administration.)
While we’re certainly convinced it took God-like powers for Obama and crew to pass health care this past week, we remain unconvinced that even Barry has the ability to move mountains.
Still, with even Chile’s government — or at least their media mouth-pieces — suggesting the quake was Gringo-made, we’re curious just where next the HAARP folks might unleash their fury.