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[ by Charles Cameron — popular opinion, informed decision-making, journalism and analysis in reference to Oslo / Utoya ]

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At least two regulars here on ZP, Cheryl Rofer and Joey, have wondered whether it’s even worth bothering to track Anders Breivik’s thought — fifteen hundred pages of cut and paste from all across the web, interspersed with page after page of his own musings.

Joey wrote, “I’m not sure this guy deserves the kind of close analysis he is getting” — and Cheryl:

I’m not at all sure that examining his “writings” tells us much beyond that these themes have been pulled into a particular orbit of hating. What might be interesting is why those themes have been found so suitable for that purpose.

I believe that tracking Breivik’s thought processes are important for two main reasons, and for two main audiences: the general public (and by extension the journalists who inform them), and policy makers, military and civilian (and thus also the intel analysts who brief them).

1: media and public

It’s important for the general public not to be left with the wrong impression, specifically as regards who or what is to blame — so that the events in Oslo do not contribute to a further deterioration in public debate.

There are a number of ongoing public conversations around Islam, Islamophobia, Christianity, the clash of cultures, the “socialist” left or “fascist” right, the media, the internet, the pernicious effect of gaming, etc., where it’s not just useful but necessary to establish some clarity on what can and cannot fairly be said about Brevik — who he was, who influenced him, who ignored him, who publicized him, who he really hated, whether he was simply mad, and above all, whose fault “it” was.

And as always the truth is more nuanced than black and white – so that in all this morass of claims and counterclaims, there are slippery slopes to be avoided, and significant distinctions to be drawn..

2: analysts and policy makers

There are also a number of areas of intel analysis where his writings may provide significant leads, and where intelligent intelligence (forgive the play on worlds) is at a premium.

As an example, I have suggested that just as it’s important to know the history of the far enemy and global jihad concepts in studying contemporary jihadism, it would be helpful to know if Breivik’s manifesto is the first place where Hindutva and Odinist and militant Christian and Masonic strands have been brought together in what I can only call an “ecumenical” manner.

I’ve no doubt some of this is of importance to those whose job it is to prosecute or defend Breivik himself: but it’s the significance Breivik has as a marker of otherwise barely detected currents of thought — “undertows” in my personal shorthand — and of the fact that such currents can now easily connect across the net to create an increased complexity of the unexpected, that most concerns me.

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By now, most of the specific groups and individuals mentioned by Breivik have been identified, and those with specific interest in them have taken note: thus the Indian press has reported on his interest in Hindutva and quotations from Sita Ram Goel, both the UN-recognized “International Templar Order” and his own Masonic order have disowned him, and so on – so there’s no point in my posting separate comments on the role of the Hindutva movement in his thinking, nor of his fascination with the Templars and their symbolic presence in other places of interest such as Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret‘s Order of the Solar Temple (locus of mass suicides/murders in France, Switzlerland and Quebec, 1994), or more recently the Michoacan La Familia cartel offshoot Los Templarios – a link which John Robb was one of the first to make…

Mexico, not Norway…

I will, however, post two more roundups of articles: one of pieces that strike me as outliers from the usual media coverage, touching on some of these specifics, the other noting the most thoughtful and informed coverage I have seen from scholars of religion.

I offer these as resources for those who have good reason for continuing interest in Breivik, in the hope that they may turn up some data points that are illuminating when connected — but also to help correct some of the erroneous linkages that have already been made.

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I am also hoping to make a post here shortly on Romanticism and the significance of myths, rituals and dreams — focusing mainly on the recent Requiem and obsequies for Otto von Habsburg, but with, I suspect, relevance to a strong romantic streak in Breivik, too…

[ by Charles Cameron — so many really good books, eh? ]

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Two very important books:

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross brings us up to speed on Al Qaeda by understanding what they say and do. Richard Landes gives a breathtakingly wide-angle view of the critical importance of apocalyptic — secular versions included.

[ by Charles Cameron — deception and warfare, analysis of 2083 manifesto ]

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The parallelism of interest here is between two versions of “sometimes you must do what you dislike”.

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In case anyone might object that Breivik is “only” talking about lying while the Qur’an is speaks of warfare, however, a reminder might be in order that Breivik was in fact waging a crusade and taking numerous lives in accordance with his own rhetoric, and also that one of the aspects of Islam that he most emphasizes is that it permits lying — see (eg) his comments on Taqiyya, section 1.5, p. 78, and his repeated use of the hadith from Bukhari (vol 4, book 52, # 269):

Narrated Jabir bin ‘Abdullah: The Prophet said, “War is deceit.”

[ by Charles Cameron — analysis of “deceptive means” in 2083 manifesto / borrowings from Chinese 36 Stratagems ]

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I don’t know if anyone has commented on this yet, and a quick search proved inconclusive — but section 3.40 of Anders Breivik‘s 2083 manifesto, “Applying deceptive means in urban guerrilla warfare” (pp. 925-930) contains a number of tricks drawn from the Chinese “Thirty-Six Stratagems” – without, I believe, an acknowledgment. These are:

4. Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west
5. Hide a knife behind a smile
6. Sacrifice the plum tree to preserve the peach tree
7. Take the opportunity to pilfer a goat
8. Do not startle the snake by hitting the grass around it
9. Borrow a corpse to resurrect the soul
10. In order to capture, one must let loose
11. Avoid the servant forces and go for the neck of their chiefs
12. Befriend a distant state while attacking a neighbour
13. Replace the beams with rotten timbers
14. Make the host and the guest exchange roles

I imagine there are other readers here more familiar with this material than I, so I’ll just post a few quick notes and express the hope that others will chime in.

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Breivik doesn’t name it as such, but in fact his first “deceptive means” is the Chinese first stratagem, Deceive the heavens to cross the ocean.  Breivik writes:

Always mask your real goals, by using the ruse of a fake goal that everyone takes for granted, until the real goal is achieved. Tactically, this is known as an ‘open feint’; in front of everyone, you point west, when your goal is actually in the east. By the time everyone realised it, you have already achieved your goal.

Compare the closely similar Wikipedia text accompanying this stratagem:

This stratagem means that you can mask your real goals, by using the ruse of a fake goal that everyone takes for granted, until the real goal is achieved. Tactically, this is known as an ‘open feint’; in front of everyone, you point west, when your goal is actually in the east. By the time everyone realised it, you have already achieved your goal.

Breivik uses the variant Do not startle the snake by hitting the grass around it rather than Stomp the grass to scare the snake which is the primary version in Wikipedia — Wikipedia’s source apparently has both.

Borrow a corpse to resurrect the soul is an interesting stratagem:

Take an institution, a technology, a method, or even an ideology that has been forgotten or discarded and appropriate it for your own purpose. Revive something from the past by giving it a new purpose or bring to life old ideas, customs, or traditions and reinterpret them to fit your purposes.

Isn’t that what Breivik is doing with the Knights Templar?

And lastly, Avoid the servant forces and go for the neck of their chiefs appears to be Breivik’s variant on the Chinese Defeat the enemy by capturing their chief – his wording perhaps influenced by the Qur’an (sura Muhammad) 47.4 “So when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them”.  I imagine that’s a verse he’d have encountered often enough.

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Someone with the appropriate background should do a more thorough job of checking out these particulars, tracking down exactly which text Breivik seems to be borrowing from, etc.  Comments and corrections are welcome.

[ by Charles Cameron — graphic from 2038 manifesto ]

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Earlier today, I posted a detail from a portrait of Anders Breivik and commented on the cross in skull motif.

Breivik’s manifesto has a section on medals, regalia and uniforms, and there’s a subsection there titled The badge of the Justiciar Knight, which presents the following image (p. 1101.):

accompanied by this text:

The badge of the Justiciar Knight illustrates a white skull, marked with the symbols of communism, Islam and Nazism on the forehead, impaled on the cross of the martyrs. The background is black. The badge of the Justiciar Knight illustrates our patriotic struggle/ opposition against all three primary hate ideologies of our time: Islam, Multiculturalism (Communism) and Nazism.

The badge of the Justiciar Knight is worn on the left upper arm while the national flag is worn on the right upper arm.

Our military uniform with commendations, insignia and badges should be worn during the trial after a successful operation in cases where the Justiciar Knight survives. The commendations and insignias should be provided post-operation by an Overseer.

In smaller print, Breivik adds:

I ordered two badges from: Indian Art Company (indianartco@gmail.com). They have a high resolution image on file (file name: dagger and skull). The two badges cost me a total of 220 USD (150 USD for badges and another 70 USD for Fedex shipping).

For what it’s worth, I’ve also found another fairly interesting sword in skull graphic:

This one can be found in at least a dozen places on the web, and was apparently used by “DNS Team” hackers to deface an Israeli commercial website in January 2009.