Archive for the ‘terrorism’ Category

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

The true cost of the Iraq war

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.

Monday, February 11th, 2008

Al-Queda in Iraq not doing so well

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.”

Thursday, January 24th, 2008

TV pilots becoming a thing of the past

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.

Monday, December 31st, 2007

From Baghdad to Kabul in a year

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.

Saturday, December 15th, 2007

America, the fearful superpower

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.

Monday, December 10th, 2007

Iran’s lack of nukes irks neocons

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.

Friday, November 30th, 2007

How network-centric warfare failed (and succeeded) in Iraq

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.

Sunday, November 25th, 2007

From villager to jihadi

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.

Monday, November 12th, 2007

Iraqi fighters grilled for connections to Iran

by Warren

Ah, more shaping of questionable intelligence to fit Dick Cheney’s homicidal whims. How delightful!

Thursday, October 25th, 2007

Waging counterterrorism in the suburbs

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.

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