Embassies, Attacks, and Iran
The simple fact is that Iran has never balked at attacked embassies. And far from bombing or invading Iran, we have usually just rolled with the punches.
Tagged: terrorism
Reverse Causality
When it comes to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, media warps cause and effect through misrepresentation and decontextualization.
Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Revolutionary?
A morally justifiable act isn’t always a morally preferable. That’s an important distinction frequently overlooked in thought exercises.
Sunday Morning! “They Will Drown in Their Mothers’ Tears”
A friend’s favorite book from last year, which describes a terrorist attack that either happened or did not happen, depending on which timeline we’re living through.
Wednesday Writs: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
Suspected enemy combatants at Gitmo were not permitted rights afforded to US citizens. But with Hamdi, the government ran into a wrinkle: He was, in fact, a US citizen.
ISIS Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Killed, President Trump Announces
President Trump announced that the overnight rumors were accurate that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in an US raid in Syria.
Speaking of Terror
If certain kinds of violence demand more from us, defining and describing violence becomes charged with power.
49 Dead in Christchurch, NZ Mosque Attack
Horrible news out of New Zealand, where an attack on two separate Mosques in Christchurch have left 49 dead and dozens of others wounded.
The Contemporary Monomyth
It is exceedingly difficult to get people to tell each other new and different stories than they do.
Yet it may prove to be existentially important to persuade them to do exactly that.
Charlie Savage on Obama’s evolving thinking on terrorism
A must-read interview with author and NYT reporter Charlie Savage on President Obama and terrorism, by OT alum Elias Isquith.
Casus Contendentes (Now With Update)
Burt Likko wonders whether, despite the unmitigated human rights awfulness that is the nascent would-be state forming in northern Iraq, swallowing our idealism and adopting a strategy of economic containment wouldn’t be a more practical alternative to making war against ISIS.
UPDATE: Reaction to President Obama’s address of September 10.
A Vast Silence
The New York Times ran a story that took Burt Likko’s breath away in outrage when he read it last night. But apparently, he’s pretty much the only one.
Beyond Redemption
There’s a frequent exchange that appears in one form or another throughout Plato’s dialogues. It focuses on the question of whether it’s better to suffer or be the one inflicting the suffering. Of course,...
Anonymous Source Says
The APs Kimberly Dozier reports that two anonymous officials and one unnamed “lawmaker” believe terrorist groups have altered how they communicate since the information contained in Edward Snowden’s leaks became public.
Fan Wankery Takes Star Trek Into Darkness.
Edit: Reposted with a new date so that people can comment on it and stuff. Note: This post is spoilerific. It will completely ruin any surprises that might exist in the upcoming movie Star Trek...
Sketching a National Security State Saner Than Today
As my isolation from the chattering classes continues, I’m inclined to go into hypotheticals and counter-factuals. One such hypothetical I returned to over the past few days is the following: What would a saner...
The Depressing Reality That is Pakistan.
News connected to Pakistan is a bit like reading a George RR Martin novel. It’s grim. It’s depressing. There’s too many characters that come in and out of nowhere and the narrative never seems...
There Was No Civil Liberties Mandate
Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic has a widely read explanation of why he cannot, on moral grounds, do as he did in 2008 and vote for Barack Obama. It’s a long piece and it’s...
