What's in a Name? Middle East Strategy at Harvard During the eulogy of the eight slain students of the March 6 terrorist attack at Mercaz HaRav yeshiva school in West Jerusalem, highly-respected Rabbi Ya'akov Shapira made, for the average gentile, a rather elusive allusion regarding the attack: "The murderer did not want to kill these people in particular, but everyone living … [Read more...]
Terrorists Die but Ideology Lives
Middle East Strategy at Harvard Will the recent killing in Pakistan of "senior" Al Qaeda leader, Abu Laith al-Libi, have any tangible effects on the "war on terror"? Considering the headline news coverage, one might assume so. In fact, whenever any major Al Qaeda operative or leader is slain, the media is abuzz with it, implying that we are one step closer to eradicating Al … [Read more...]
Bin Laden’s Latest Message in Context
Middle East Strategy at Harvard Full of the same old complaints, threats of retaliation, and victim status role that have become mainstays of al-Qaeda propaganda, Osama bin Laden's latest release would seem to offer nothing new. It dwells on the many "crimes" the West insists on visiting upon the Muslim world, simply because "their only sin is that they are Muslim"; it, once … [Read more...]
Nukes and Natures
National Review Online Much of the current debate surrounding Iran's nuclear aspirations centers on the National Intelligence Estimate report which "judge[s] with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program." While such reports tend to be accepted as authoritative — witness the ongoing political maelstrom caused by it — it is imperative to … [Read more...]
Anti-Christian Crusade
National Review Online By now, the oft-recurring negative portrayals of Christianity in major Hollywood movies have become hackneyed and predictable. The recent rendition of Beowulf only reinforced this trend. The same subtle depictions and motifs present in movies from decades past were once again present, a favorite being the attempt to try to depict pagans as "open-minded" … [Read more...]