My grandfather, who died in 1994 at the age of 92, was a life-long social democrat.¹ The son of a paper mill foreman and a veteran of three wars, he was a tough guy, both in body and spirit. He had the sinewy torso of a former wrestler and the voracious literary appetite of a [...]
Archive for July, 2011
Oslo: Those Who Cannot Be Blamed Can Be Blamed
Posted in Terrorism on July 28, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The Sad Case of Mohammed, Jihadist Madman
Posted in Terrorism on July 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Had he been a Somali immigrant named Mohammed, it is doubtful that Anders Behring Breivik would have ever gotten as far as he did. It is more than likely, though not certain, that he would’ve been flagged by the Norwegian PST as a security risk a long time ago, stopped from acquiring his tools of [...]
Libya: Confessions of a Closet Interventionist
Posted in Libya on July 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The other day, a total stranger — a man whom I have never met and who knows nothing about me or my views — angrily called me out on Twitter for pointing out yet another occurrence of the “islamists are taking over the uprising in Libya” fantasy meme: It isn’t a *meme*; it was something [...]
Libya, Pundits and the Permanent Snark Overdrive
Posted in Libya on July 14, 2011 | 1 Comment »
In Information Dissemination, Raymond Pritchett makes a terrifying prediction: Libya has all the makings of a prolonged, uncontrolled tribal war similar to Somalia where groups are likely to link up with elements of Al Qaeda like AQAP and AQIM for support towards taking political control once Gaddafi is removed. Libya is also emerging as the [...]
Onward to Tripoli, 160 Metres at a Time
Posted in Libya on July 10, 2011 | 2 Comments »
BBC and Reuters report that the rebels in Misrata have managed to advance from the previous western frontline in Dafniya and are consolidating their positions at Souq al-Thulatha’a 13 kilometres from Zliten, the next city along the road to Tripoli. Lest anyone gets any big ideas about a blitzkrieg straight to the hornet’s nest, let’s [...]
Libya: Why He Won’t Go
Posted in Libya on July 9, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The prospects of Muammar Gaddafi’s army collapsing are “highly unlikely”, a senior defector, Col. Mohammed Ali Ethish, tells The New York Times: “I hope that when we do reach the borders of Tripoli, the revolutionaries there free it. [...] If we don’t go in with an organized army, there’s going to be a huge mess.” [...]
Where They Fell
Posted in Libya on July 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
When I was in Misrata in May, there were still drag marks on the sidewalk outside a car wash at the end of Tripoli Street, where shrapnel from a mortar shell had hit photographers Tim Hetherington, Chris Hondros, Guy Martin and Michael Brown in the early evening of April 20. Next door was the burned [...]
