Charlie Hebdo Update
The suspects and another ally are dead. The Ally killed 3 and injured 5 in a hostage situation at a Kosher supermarket in Paris.
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on Group Activity: Are You Smarter Than an Eighth-grade Civics Test
on Group Activity: Are You Smarter Than an Eighth-grade Civics Test
on Huffpo reports that Harris internals *NEVER* had her ahead.
on Movie of a Man Awakened at Night
Horrible.Report
Definitional question: is this terrorism, or is it crime? There are indications that the brothers who did the shooting at Charlie Hebdo, at least, received training at an al-Qaeda camp in Yemen. But still, I’m voting for “crime.” And as big a fan as I am of due process of law, I think that an outcome like this has the very thin silver lining of sparing the justice system of La France the troublesome problem of what to do with very, very odious criminals.Report
When I asked this question — I believe about Hasan/Ft. Hood or Benghazi — the response seemed to be that brown(ish) Muslims using violence = terrorism. But maybe that was only if the victims were American.Report
It is both. Many or even all terrorist attacks are crimes because they usually involve some action that is against the law. Terrorism can be seen as criminal acts done for ideological purposes. The massacre at Charlie Hebdo involved the felony of murder but it was for ostensibly a religious reason, making it ideologically inspired.Report
@burt-likko
At the very least it is a highly ideologically motivated crime and the targets were specifically chosen. I don’t think going to a Kosher market was accidental.Report
“Definitional question: is this terrorism, or is it crime?”
i don’t know how much of a difference it makes. given the political nature of the attack and the civilian nature of the target there’s at least a decent foothold to call it terrorism. but at the end of the day i tend to think of that term as political art after the fact.
it was, if nothing else, certainly asymmetrical warfare.Report
@dhex
Unfortunately, it is much more than political art. At least in the States, deeming someone/something a terrorist/act of terrorism completely changes the legal process from there on out.Report
@kazzy
i would say that’s just a longer way of saying “political art after the fact”.Report
@dhex
I guess my discomfort with that term is that “art” makes me think that the decision between the use of the terms is ultimately of little consequence. I understand ‘political art after the fact’ to essentially dismiss @burt-likko ‘s question as merely being about semantics.
If I am misunderstanding the term (highly likely!) then please, A) help me understand it better and B) accept my sincerest of apologies!Report
@kazzy
“I guess my discomfort with that term is that “art” makes me think that the decision between the use of the terms is ultimately of little consequence.”
not of little consequence, but as something appended after the fact for maximum political advantage. it has no genuine “reality” to grasp, and the dead – like all who die in the public eye by whatever means – are simply a tool to achieve advantage by whomever can seize it.
as someone who teaches young children, the nihilistic reality of true power should be readily evident. 🙂Report
Duly noted. And, yes, I agree then. At least insofar how the-powers-that-be answer the question. I don’t think Burt’s query was aimed at putting his thumb on the scale. But the usual suspects certainly will do so.
To your last point, I used the phrase “benevolent little dictator” during a P/T conference this year. That’s a 10-pointer!Report
“At least in the States, deeming someone/something a terrorist/act of terrorism completely changes the legal process from there on out.”
it seems to me that the distinction makes a difference when prosecuting individuals before any incident occurs, but after the fact, not so much. Hassan, Eric Frein, Eric Rudolph, McVeigh & Nichols were all, as far as I can tell, charged and/or convicted of straight up homicide or conspiracy to commit the same. Though wiki say the OKC perpetrators were also convicted of WMD use – which is the same thing the living Tsarnev brother is being charged with, also per wiki
(there’s also a small sample size of ‘people captured alive after committing mass murder’, both over the past 14 years and more generally)Report
Al Qaeda is claiming responsibility.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/01/09/al-qaeda-in-yemen-claims-paris-attack.html?via=twitter_page
But how do we really know?Report
North Korea kills a movie, so al-Qaeda goes after a magazine.
Keeping up with the Joneses, I see.Report
I tell ya’ when these guys all find out about the Internet, they are going to be sooooo mad!Report