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Binoculars on the Middle East

Wednesday, April 15th, 2015

[ by Charles Cameron — current assessments — Iran trumps Saudi, AQ beats IS ]
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SPEC who is winning

**

Sources:

  • Cambanis in Foreign Policy, Iran Is Winning the War for Dominance of the Middle East
  • Gartenstein-Ross & Moreng in Politico, Al Qaeda Is Beating the Islamic State\

  • Both are worth reading.

    • Posted in al qaida, Charles Cameron, daveed gartenstein-ross, Doublequotes, foreign policy, iran, IS, saudi arabia | 4 Comments »

    A most curious YouTube quotation

    Tuesday, December 16th, 2014

    [ by Charles Cameron — total clash or bizarre agreement? Sydney hostage-taker Man Haron Monis quoted Christian apologist David Wood video on his Twitter feed ]
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    I am really not sure quite what to make of this. Sheikh Haron, aka Man Haron Monis, the disturbed ex-Shia convert to “Islam” who was the Sydney “hostage-taker” had a Twitter-feed, still up as I was researching this piece, which included this tweet:

    **

    Somewhat to my amazement, Haron is posting a video by the Christian apologist David Wood of Acts 17 Apologetics — a gentleman I’ve run across before, strongly opposed to Islam. Here’s the video in question, as featured on the Acts 17 Apologetics YouTube channel

    Is Haron quoting Wood like this because he agrees (??!!) with Wood’s analysis of IS in terms of Quranic injunctions — or to show how disdainfully opposed to Islam, western views or Christian apologetics “really are”? — perhaps even both simultaneously?

    No matter how you read Haron’s use of Wood’s video, or the various versions of the two Abrahamic faiths under discussion, the appearance of a Christian apologeticist on Haron’s website should give us pause for thought.

    For an insight into Wood himself, the redemptive bio on the Moral Apologetics website under the title On Psychopathy and Moral Apologetics is worth your attention.

    **

    In case Haron’s feed gets taken down — I’m amazed it hasn’t been taken down already — here is a screen cap of that tweet:

    Sheikh Haron's tweet

    For more on Haron’s online presence, see Zack Beauchamp quoting Daveed Gartenstein-Ross in Sydney hostage taker Man Haron Monis pledged allegiance to ISIS on his website

    Posted in Australia, Charles Cameron, christianity, daveed gartenstein-ross, IS, ISIS, Islam, islamist, shia, sunni, Sydney, twitter, Uncategorized, youtube | 1 Comment »

    Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, conclusion, second point

    Saturday, February 8th, 2014

    [ by Charles Cameron — all too important, all too easily overlooked, Daveed G-R nails it ]
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    I thought Daveed Gartenstein-Ross made an exemplary point in his testimony before the House Armed Services Committee session on the State of Al Qaeda, its Affiliates, and Associated Groups: View From Outside Experts, when in the second of four points in his Conclusion: Al-Qaeda and U.S. Policy (five in his testimony as delivered orally) he said:

    This testimony has outlined two competing views of al-Qaeda, and it’s worth noting that public discussion of the jihadist group is impeded by the fact that open-source analysts lack basic information about the al-Qaeda network that can be found in such primary source documents as those recovered after the raid that killed bin Laden in Abbottabad. The seventeen Abbottabad documents that the U.S. government released in 2012 represent less than 1% of the total cache of information, and they don’t even contain a single complete correspondence. To improve public sphere discussion about al-Qaeda, declassification of those documents should be hastened.

    A number of analysts have been saying the same thing for a while in blog posts and tweets, though in the present budget-cutting atmosphere they have been ignored and the program to continue declassification and analysis shelved — but Daveed brought the issue, pointedly and courageously I thought, to the House Committee itself.

    If anything can turn things in a positive direction as far as that cache of documents is concerned, Daveed’s direct testimony will. As he put it:

    Better harnessing the talents of open-source analysts has the potential to sharpen U.S. counterterrorism policies and alert policymakers to possible pitfalls.

    **

    Sources:

  • HASC testimony, video
  • CTC West Point, Letters from Abbottabad: Bin Ladin Sidelined?

    • Posted in Charles Cameron, daveed gartenstein-ross, testimony, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

    Of serpent-bites in logic

    Saturday, August 31st, 2013

    [ by Charles Cameron — continuing my series on the “serpent bites tail” reflexive form (1, 2, 3, 4) in which analytic gems and other insights may often be easily discovered or succinctly expressed — read this post fast for fun, or reflectively (!!) for the ripples ]
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    I’m going to lead off with this tweet, which seems very timely considering the news this last week or so about Syria…

    I thought this was another quite beautiful example of “serpent bites its own tail” phrasing — timely too — uttered by JM Berger in summarizing his Loopcast with Daveed Gartenstein-Ross on the current status of Al-Qaeda, highly recommended, BTW:

    And if you want to know about Hezbollah and its global reach, this one refers to the book you need…

    **

    Okay, having given pride of place to those three, I’d like to catch those of you who are interested up on an entire series of self-referencing tweets I’ve run across since I last posted. I’m really collecting these things because I’d like, one of these days, to do a thorough analysis of what they teach us about our modes of thought, and how we can apply that to pattern-recognition in our own readings, and creative insight in our writings and analytic output… In the meantime, don’t feel obliged to read every last one, just dip in as you feel inclined — think of this as a reference section, okay? Take what you need and leave the rest.

    Here’s one that uses the Escher‘s hand draws hand format:

    And here’s a pair that needs to stay together:

    Continuing… I might as well give you a cluster from Teju Cole, since he’s a master…

    Okay, here’s another one with timely reference, this time to the whole NSA business:

    Really, this is just such a rich vein of humor and insight:

    Let’s go to another wordsmith — they’re often good at this stuff:

    Two from philosopher Allen Stairs:

    One from quasi-Einstein, via the very bright (non-quasi) Seb Paquet:

    **

    I’ll close with an example from the “all is nothing” category, this one from Peter J Munson:

    Posted in al qaida, Charles Cameron, Creepy-state, daveed gartenstein-ross, economics, guantanamo, hezbollah, IC, intelligence, JM Berger, philosophy, syria, twitter, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

    News from the near blogosphere: I

    Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

    [ by Charles Cameron — listen up if you get the chance ]
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    It is possible that this post will reach some of you in time to tune in to this testimony:

    **

    I’m posting this here because I hope some of you will be able to watch this session live, but also because I think it’s indicative of a shift that is happening — and it’s a shift I’ve been hoping for and wanting to talk about here on Zenpundit. That shift has to do with the blogosphere, and to my mind it’s a very positive one.

    I’ll have more on that later — but first, I wanted to get the word out about this session. More, hopefully, a few hours from now.

    Posted in Aaron Zelin, africa, America, Charles Cameron, counterterrorism, daveed gartenstein-ross, foreign policy, terrorism, testimony, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

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