Counterterrorism terminology

The Associated Press reports that the National Counterterrorism Center in the United States has published guidance on using terms when talking about terrorism.

The last one is probably the best piece of advice:

Don’t use “salafi,” “Wahhabist,” “sufi,” “ummah” and other words from Islamic theology unless you are able to discuss their varied meanings. Particularly avoid using “ummah” to mean the Muslim world, as it is a theological term.

(Via Muse.)

Pro-Israel, pro-peace lobby launched

J Street, a new ‘pro-Israel, pro-peace’ lobby, has been launched in the US.

The goal of the lobby is to “promote meaningful American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israel conflicts peacefully and diplomatically” and a “new direction” in American foriegn policy. It is an attempt to counter American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and to give a voice to what most American Jews think about the Israel-Palestine conflict.

J Street has prominent American and Israeli supporters and Prospect Magazine has some more background.

Everyone’s a Muslim!

Apparently, the Dhummies have unearthed a new fact(oid): Pastor Jeremiah Wright is a former Muslim!

Then again everyone’s a Muslim!

Head of FBI says Al-Qa’ida can be defeated in less than four years

In a speech to Chatham House, Robert Mueller, head of the FBI, says Britain and the US are less than four years from defeating al-Qa’ida. The FBI have developed a three-tiered threat from al-Qa’ida:

- A top tier based along the Afghanistan-Pakisan border.

- A middle tier with some links to the top; this is apparently the most complicated.

- A third, lower, tier which meets largely on the internet and not training camps.

Mueller’s remarks seem to tie in with the ‘leaderless jihad’ theory promoted by Marc Sageman (who used to work for the CIA), although Sageman is more forceful in saying the first two tiers (the ‘leadership’ and those trained by the top) have been devastated — the third tier, in his view, is dangerous but does not pose a “civilisational” challenge.

Where does this assessment by Mueller leave the ‘long war’ the Bush administration has talked about so much?

Over at Global Dashboard notes that the current head of head of MI5 and his predecessor are quoted by Mueller, prompting the question: why do we only learn of British counterterrorism efforts through American officials?

Plus, if we win in 4 years time, will the state returns the rights it has taken in the fight against terrorism?

Religion and Culture: America v Europe

Via Razib, here is a study (pdf) which compares attitudes towards religious and cultural homogeneity:

“American exceptionalism” emerges fairly clearly. Relative to almost all European nations, fewer Americans endorse cultural or religious homogeneity, and the differences between the U.S. and these other nations are almost always statistically significant.

Britons seem more bothered by notions of culture (‘customs and traditions’) than religion. Around 25% agreed with the need for shared religion while this number nearly doubled when the question was about shared customs and traditions. In France this difference was even more noticeable.

Reading Nietzsche in American politicians

Ali Eteraz says Barack Obama is a true Nietzschean for stifling nihilist pessimism.

Chris Dillow argues Hillary Clinton is a good Nietzschean for her will to power.

Not on your television

‘United States applys its domestic laws to foreign citizens not even in the US’ or ‘Maybe this helps the Republicans with those anti-Castro Cuban voters in Miami’

Steve Marshall is an English travel agent. He lives in Spain, and he sells trips to Europeans who want to go to sunny places, including Cuba. In October, about 80 of his Web sites stopped working, thanks to the United States government.The sites, in English, French and Spanish, had been online since 1998. Some, like http://www.cuba-hemingway.com, were literary. Others, like http://www.cuba-havanacity.com, discussed Cuban history and culture. Still others — http://www.ciaocuba.com and http://www.bonjourcuba.com — were purely commercial sites aimed at Italian and French tourists.

“I came to work in the morning, and we had no reservations at all,” Mr. Marshall said on the phone from the Canary Islands. “We thought it was a technical problem.”

It turned out, though, that Mr. Marshall’s Web sites had been put on a Treasury Department blacklist and, as a consequence, his American domain name registrar, eNom Inc., had disabled them. Mr. Marshall said eNom told him it did so after a call from the Treasury Department; the company, based in Bellevue, Wash., says it learned that the sites were on the blacklist through a blog.

Source .

Obama, Blair

There is a danger Obama will be the new Blair.

Cheney on mission to kill alternative energy

Speaking Wednesday about his vice president’s impending trip to the Middle East, President George W. Bush told reporters that Dick Cheney would try to make the standard case that Saudi Arabia should increase oil production to head off a U.S. recession. And he added another wrinkle, saying that Cheney would remind King Abdullah that “high oil prices are stimulating an enormous amount of venture capital money into alternative forms of energy.”

It’s an interesting negotiating ploy, given Saudi Arabia’s role in flooding the market and killing off alternative forms of energy in the 1980s. I’m sure King Abduallah remembers it well. The question is, at what oil price point are various competing technologies — biofuels, plug-in hybrids, hydrogen — economically viable (leaving aside their environmental benefits)? And do the Saudis have the means to lower the price of crude below that level?

Source.