Beyond Boston: Conspiracy Theories and International Relations Written by Luke M. Herrington This PDF is auto-generated for reference only. As such, it may contain some conversion errors and/or missing information. For all formal use please refer to the official version on the website, as linked below. Beyond Boston: Conspiracy Theories and International Relations https://www.e-ir.info/2013/04/16/beyond-boston-conspiracy-theories-and-international-relations/ LUKE M. HERRINGTON, APR 16 2013 Though the smoke from the Boston Marathon attacks has cleared, a cloud of confusion remains as investigators race to determine who detonated two bombs near the finish line of the race yesterday. As such, J. Dana Stuster over at Foreign Policy observes that conspiracy theories about the attacks are already proliferating. Writers atSalon, the Huffington Post, and the Atlantic followed suit. With so little new information emerging about the attacks (keep in mind that it’s not even been 24 hours since the attack took place), and with media outlets like CNN simply looping their reports, it should really come as no surprise that people might attempt to answer all the questions—who?, why?— with their own rather imaginative ideas and theories. Even the media is engaged in wild speculation. Authorities may have classified the bombings as a terrorist attack, a move e-IR’s own Dan Cox might disagree with without having more information about the attacks, but questions remain: was it domestic or foreign terrorism? Was it really terrorism? Was it Al Qaeda? We don’t know; and we can’t until someone steps forward to claim responsibility. From here, however, substantive discussion lapses into conspiratorial paranoia: who was the mysterious man on the roof? Who is the injured Saudi national under guard (but not in police custody) at an undisclosed hospital? Both left- and right-leaning groups are already speculating that the bombings, which wounded more than 140 people and left three dead, were so-called “false-flag attacks.” The notorious hacktivist network, Anonymous, has been posting Facebook comments suggesting the possibility of a false flag attack, while Dan Bidondi, a reporter for the right-wing conspiracy theory website, Info Wars, somehow managed to gain access to a press conference with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, where he spouted off the governor’s first question: “Is this another false flag attack staged to take our civil liberties?” Stuster notes that, as of 4 PM yesterday, Info Wars had already posted an article insinuating that the FBI or the Boston Police Department’s bomb squad could somehow be involved in these bombings. Indeed, Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist behind Info Wars, and other sites like Prison Planet , wasted no time tweeting that the attack “stinks to high heaven #falseflag.” Of course, such bizarre theories have more in common with ideas, like the one that said the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an inside job, used as an excuse to declare war on Iraq than with reality itself. But that hasn’t stopped the tinfoil hat brigade yet, and it probably won’t. As Stuster observes, Twitter lit up within minutes of the attack about the possibilities of an “inside job.” Given North Korea’s recent saber-rattling, for instance, and more level-headed analyses of the subject (see here and here) notwithstanding, one Twitter user has already suggested that Monday’s bombings were part of an elaborate scheme meant to justify war with the Hermit Kingdom. Others say Syria. Still others, Iran. Even Israel’s national intelligence agency, Mossad, has been the target of such blame. E-International Relations ISSN 2053-8626 Page 1/2