Almost two years ago (March 25, 2002), I argued that the so-called 'Axis of Evil' is actually "a loosely-knotted Network of Evil":

. . . Libya supplies guns and explosives to the IRA, which sends ambassadors (bomb instructors?) to the Colombian FARC, who are in tight with Castro, and so on around the world. If North Korea sells missiles to Iran, it is no doubt mostly for the money, but partly because they're evil and like to know that other evil countries are well-armed -- there is some safety in numbers. The list of connections could be extended, but it would be easier to ask whether there is any organized violent antiWestern force in the world today that does not give or receive help from any of the others. Perhaps the Nepali Maoists? Or is it really likely that China is not shipping arms across their long and sparsely-populated border?

Someone with more detailed and up-to-date knowledge than I could put together a fascinating diagram of the most important nodes in the Network of Evil and all their known connections. It would look a little like one of those Lyndon LaRouche diagrams of who runs the world, tracing the puppet strings from the five Rockefeller brothers through the Pope, the Queen of England, various Wall Street law firms, and so on down to Bush and Blair and the rest. Of course, one important difference is that the Network of Evil has no center, no spider controlling the web: all nodes are equal, and most are independent, but they do work together. Another fundamental difference is that the connections in the Network of Evil are not imaginary. I haven't seen one of the LaRouche diagrams in over 20 years, so I'm not at all clear on who is supposed to be running the world now that Nelson and his brothers are all dead. Younger Rockefellers, I suppose, with perhaps a few Rothschilds thrown in to help hook the more antiSemitic morons.

Of course one other advantage of 'Network of Evil' as a slogan is that it is so much more contemporary. 'Axis of Evil' sounds so industrial age, five-year-plan, smelters and turbines, battleships and trench warfare, in short, so 19th-century. Bin Laden's cell phones and e-mailed communiqués, and the lack of any real front line in this particular war are just a few of the things that make it a network, not an axis.

The most significant suggestion is in bold-face. I still think this is a good idea. Here's what I have in mind: a pictorial diagram of the Network of Evil, in the form of an interactive map of the world. Nodes would be color-coded, and would fall into three classes:

1. Evil countries, such as North Korea, Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
2. Evil NGOs, such as Al Qaeda, ETA, IRA, FARC, LTTE, JI, MILF, Hamas, Hezbollah, and dozens, if not hundreds, more.
3. 'Enablers', countries (e.g. Germany) and NGOs (e.g. the U.N.) that supply the evil countries and NGOs with arms and money.

These would be displayed on a map of the world, with a dot for each node, and lines connecting all the nodes known (or suspected) to be connected. A reader who clicked on any line would be given the list of connections between the two countries or NGOs connected by that line, whether proven, probable, or possible, with URLs for the evidence. For example, the line connecting Libya with the Irish Republican Army would give all the evidence for cooperation between the two. A reader who clicked on any node would be given a list of all other nodes connected to it, and could then select one connection for further examination.

So: Does any of my readers have the technical skills and spare time to put together such a site? I suspect (and hope) that the U.S. government already has such a map, but an amateur private-sector version would also be useful.