Archive for the ‘terrorism’ Category
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
by Warren
The war, now in its fifth year, will cost the United States one TRILLION dollars. Not only that, but a lot of it is borrowed money. Noted economist Joseph Stiglitz crunched the numbers, and according to the Guardian, the numbers ain’t good.
Posted in
9/11, Administration, afghanistan, al queda, iraq, middle east, military, terrorism, united states
Monday, February 11th, 2008
by Warren
The move of moderate but marginalized Iraqi Sunnis to the U.S. military and away from Al Queda’s unique brand of crazy-ass seems to have put AQ in a bit of a tizzy. The loss of Anbar province, which the United States military seems to have quelled for the moment, was a particular thorn in the side of Iraqi Al Queda leaders. On the other hand, I can’t totally hate any leader who refers to defectors from his organization as “scoundrels.”
Posted in
al queda, iraq, middle east, military, osama, terrorism, united states
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
by Warren
With an unending writer’s strike and web video nipping at its heels, the tradition of spending millions on pilot episodes of series that usually never get made is slowly winding down into oblivion NewTeeVee explains how the web model of cheaply building an audience organically is the way of the future. Kent Nichols of “Ask a Ninja” fame has further thoughts on the democratization of series development.
Posted in
Entertainment, terrorism, video, web
Monday, December 31st, 2007
by Warren
Not exactly “a year in Provence,” is it? Documentarian Julian Sher spent a year making films for the CBC, and in the process got to experience war both in Iraq and Afghanistan. What he saw in both places left him less than optimistic for further progress.
Posted in
afghanistan, al queda, iraq, middle east, military, Politics, terrorism, united states
Saturday, December 15th, 2007
by Warren
Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria points out in his latest column that while America cowers from perceived threats, the rest of the world still sees it as an aggressive bully. In order for the US to regain its standing in the world, they’re going to have to get past their sense of fear and deal with a rapidly changing world. Zakaria suggests one bright idea might be spending less time on the Middle East and more on China and India.
Posted in
9/11, Administration, afghanistan, Politics, terrorism, united states
Monday, December 10th, 2007
by Warren
According to the Times, the recent declaration by American intelligence agencies that Iran doesn’t actually have any nukes and froze plans to get them a while back isn’t going over too well in Washington. And in an ironic twist of fate, war with the United States is probably about the only thing that’ll keep Ahmadinejad, Iran’s increasingly unpopular president, in power.
Posted in
iran, middle east, military, Politics, terrorism
Friday, November 30th, 2007
by Warren
One of Donald Rumsfeld’s big goals for the American military was “transformation,” a process by which the armed forces modernized and adopted a more “network-centric” approach to combat. It worked spectacularly during the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, with Special Forces troops laser-targeting opposing forces and ground commanders getting a God’s-eye view of their operations theatre. But network-centric warfare has turned out to be a bust for winning the peace, as Wired Magazine details.
Posted in
afghanistan, al queda, iraq, middle east, military, terrorism, united states
Sunday, November 25th, 2007
by Warren
There’s a village in Morocco called Tetouan that’s the home town of a disproportionate number of young jihadis, including some of the men responsible for the Madrid train bombings in 2004. The New York Times Magazine investigates (at length) what turns normal young men from Tetouan into suicide bombers.
Posted in
al queda, iraq, middle east, military, terrorism
Monday, November 12th, 2007
by Warren
Ah, more shaping of questionable intelligence to fit Dick Cheney’s homicidal whims. How delightful!
Posted in
Administration, iran, iraq, middle east, military, Politics, terrorism, united states
Thursday, October 25th, 2007
by Warren
Nope, it doesn’t involve duct tape or keeping an eye on your neighbours for possible un-American activities. Wired magazine profiles a suburban Montana woman who spends her days at an office, but her nights monitoring jihadi activity online.
Posted in
al queda, internet, iraq, middle east, military, Politics, terrorism, united states