Making Sense of Jihad

Around the Web - I’m Back!

Well, sort of.  I’m trying to be “back.”  After a crazy 2010 in which I married a real life Frog and really turned 40.  Not sure what my 40s will bring, but a few things are certain -- it will include counter-jihad, vulgar French idioms, petanque, and plenty of very fine wines.  Unfortunately, it will also include English Premier and Ligue 1 “fuutbawl,” but that’s for a different post.

The two Aaron’s

Aaron, did some excellent work not too long ago  exploring the connections between the online world of Swede suicide bomber, Taimour al-Abdaly and the online world of The Pest, aka Samir Khan. 

Meanwhile, if you were reading Aaron Zelin’s Jihadology you would know that...

-- Bin Laden’s recent message to the French had nothing to say about the burqa law.

-- Daveed Gartenstein-Ross gives a strong defense of  applying jihadi ideology in the analysis of jihadi behavior.  [BTW: Congratulations]

-- There is an emerging Salafist-jihadist movement in Nigeria called the “Brigades of the Tawhid.”

-- And that there is a new study of Salafist-jihadism in Germany, by F.W.Horst, called, of all things,  "Salafist-jihadism in Germany."

It is also through Aaron Z -- retweeted by the estimable Mr Orange -- that Mark Stout just posted a fascinating analysis of an early EIG (Egyptian Islamic Group) counter-intel piece. 

One last thing...

I forgive you, Jarret...

...for employing any ideas that spring forth from the demented mind of 1998 Bad Writing contest winner, Judith Butler in your noble struggle against online jihadis.  I admire your work.  I loved your book.  But the Butler reference is beyond the pale.  She’s Lacan without the pen.  Come back to us, Jarret, come back!  Come back to the real world of applied jihad analysis! Sigh, well, if you insist on wasting your time in the dark chambers of post structuralism, just remember this: Sometimes a pen is just a pen.

Around the Web - Snow Day Edition

It's back!  Around the Web has returned (I know you've missed it).  After thinking about it for some time, I admit that it's still the best way for me to keep up with the daily fire hose of information.  And after a day of cooking (chicken chili soup anyone?), I’m ready to pick through the web for a little counter-terrorism fun. 

Let's begin then...

One of the more intriguing recently thwarted plots comes to us from Bosnia
.

New jihadi blog. New to me, anyway: http://madkhalis.com/

Hey, check out Aaron, all grown up and writing for Studies in Conflict and Terrorism: "Comparison of Visual Motifs in Jihadi and Cholo Videos on YouTube," Volume 32, Issue 12 December 2009 , pages 1066 – 1074

Yeah, I’d say it was cheeky.  It's also wonderful.

What this suggests to me is that we need to be able to speak / read not only spoken or written languages of our sources, suspects, informants and opponents — but also the language or underlying logic of their thought.

Charles, I call this “thinking with the adversary.”  It’s a modification of an old Catholic theological principle.

Around Current Intelligence

Mike on Histories of Violence.  Tim on the Congo.   John on Niall.  Charli on drones.  Christopher on the Navy.  Tim (once again) on the possibility of a digital Pearl Harbor.

On to other items...

2d rule of jihadi media: let the adversary tell you whether something is radical or not.

I know this is old in blog-time, but I can’t resist writing this sentence: It was never 2000, and it’s not 50 now, and it was never 30 and it’s not 200 now.  The numbers have always been in the 5 or 10s.  Bradford’s law extends even to jihobbyists.

Strawmen? Check. Condescension?  Check. Bored analyst. Yawn.

In related news: "Al-Qaida's Zawahiri Hails KSM, Ramzi Yousef, and Others Held in U.S. Prisons."

What were those Uighurs doing in Cambodia in the first place?

The level of willful ignorance it takes to write something like this is astounding.

Of course it is.

Yes, we have NoVa radicals.  We have NoVa radicals today.

New Yemeni Blog (via Waq al-Waq) ...and a new report on AQAP

Reason #904820531 why lawfare is inadequate.

“The Financial Times actually wrote a fairly balanced story on Shariah finance for a change.”

Yeah. I would say that massive money laundering schemes will have their growing pains.

Two down, ? to go

Countering Thinktankistan, one blog post at a time

Reminding everyone that there is still a conflict in Kashmir.

A little late, don’t you think?

Is this an example of a Medinan strategy at work?  To a safehaven?

Perhaps they should just save the ink and trees and quit issuing worthless fatawa.

Prison News
http://forums.islamicawakening.com/prisoners/

Letter From Ismail Royerî ìI Am Going to Super-Maxî
http://umarlee.com/2009/12/21/letter-from-ismail-royer-i-am-going-to-super-max/

Meanwhile in Africa

From East

Somalian conflict is a war being fought on a global scale, because so many Somalians no longer live there.

Assessing the threat in Somalia (via ISN)

AP reported on the improving tactics in Somalia

A recent example of Al-Shabaab putting Salafist-Jihadism governance into action...and apparently consolidating its media message.

To West

The most interesting Africa-centered report in the last several months is the recent arrests in Ghana of AQIM suspects accused of smuggling drugs to finance the group’s operations.

Apparently, drug smuggling remains inadequate source of income.

CT progress in Mauritania?

Death in absentia in Algeria