From this month's Foreign Affairs:

Radical Islam is spreading across Europe among descendants of Muslim immigrants. Disenfranchised and disillusioned by the failure of integration, some European Muslims have taken up jihad against the West. They are dangerous and committed -- and can enter the United States without a visa.

Bush has said that we would be fighting the war with the terrorists "abroad", as opposed to at home. Its bad news for Europe that Europe is "abroad".

... back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Foreign Affairs - Europe's Angry Muslims - Robert S. Leiken

TMV yesterday got to watch extensive cable news and listen to nearly 6 hours of right and left wing talk radio. He is struck by how bitterly partisan the reaction of many callers on both sides have been to the London bombings. Each side is passionate. But the issue of those terrible deaths in London almost seemed superceeded by the need to immediately boot this event into the political realm....

What this portends: a sign that perhaps the U.S. may never again be as united as it was in the immediate aftermath of 911 — even if (God forbid) there is another 911.

The Moderate Voice - London Bombing Sparks Controversy Over Terrorism Flypaper Theory

If you're like me, when you hear about information posted to an al-qaeda website you think, "how the hell do they have a web site"...well the answer to that is actually pretty interesting, I checked into it a little and found some interesting information about how they're hacking websites to keep their content on the net...

wired has a story about it here

also wikipedia has a good collection of information here

al-qaeda website, and how they keep al-neda running

The London bombings are likely part of a wider al Qaeda summer offensive.

There are a number of interesting observations here. Of course, the commentator is partisan, so take with salt. I presume this is mostly a show for the mideast rather then something intended to influence the west. However, we are moving in to the period of time where it is in the interest of the coalition to reduce their presence in Iraq, and Al'Q may attempt to force the west to stay or take credit for withdrawls.

James S. Robbins on 7/7 London Attacks on National Review Online

The Pentagon awarded three contracts this week, potentially worth up to $300 million over five years, to companies it hopes will inject more creativity into its psychological operations efforts to improve foreign public opinion about the United States, particularly the military.

"We would like to be able to use cutting-edge types of media," said Col. James A. Treadwell, director of the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element, a part of Tampa-based US Special Operations Command. "If you want to influence someone, you have to touch their emotions."

"What's changing is the realization that in this so-called war on terrorism, this might be the thing that wins the whole thing for you. This gets to the importance of the war of ideas."

I'm very happy to see an approach like this to the WoT.

Pentagon Funds Diplomacy Effort

Centrist liberal Milblogger (yeah, there are some) Alexander the Average has done a lot of good stuff. His 2-part set of posts exploring the aftermath of nuclear terrorism is highly recommended.

Some MemeStreamers will find this up their alley. I'm memeing a blog posting of this series because its two parts and they've provided one convenient permalink for it.

Winds of Change.NET: Exploring the Impact of Nuclear Terrorism

] The Bush administration has launched a high-level
] internal review of its efforts to battle international
] terrorism, aimed at moving away from a policy that has
] stressed efforts to capture and kill al Qaeda leaders
] since Sept. 11, 2001, and toward what a senior official
] called a broader "strategy against violent extremism."

Al Q is not an organization. It is a scene.

Review May Shift Terror Policies

] Husain Haqqani, a thoughtful Pakistani scholar now
] teaching at Boston University, remarked to me: "When
] people like myself say American values must be emulated
] and America is a bastion of freedom, we get Guantánamo
] Bay thrown in our faces. When we talk about the America
] of Jefferson and Hamilton, people back home say to us:
] 'That is not the America we are dealing with. We are
] dealing with the America of imprisonment without trial.'"

Friedman is fucking pissed about Gitmo.

Just Shut It Down - New York Times

The Muslim world's silence about the real desecration of Iraqis, coupled with its outrage over the alleged desecration of a Koran, highlights what we are up against in trying to stabilize Iraq -- as well as the only workable strategy going forward.

Get your Tom Friedman while it lasts.

Outrage and Silence

] Under growing international pressure, U.S. authorities
] Tuesday seized a Cuban exile accused by
] Fidel Castro's government of masterminding a 1976
] airliner bombing that killed 73 people. He had been
] seeking asylum in the United States.

This is one of those cases where a little bit of context really makes the spin sound sinister.

Search MemeStreams for cuban.

Three of this guy's associates entered the country back in August under the cover of press coverage. One of them actually fired a bazooka at the UN building in New York City in 1964! The US admitted them. No problem. They are still free here.

This guy is their leader. He has been here for over a month. He requested asylum. Formally. With a lawyer. He has been taking interveiws. Last week the US goaded Cuba on a black militant that they are harboring. Even the domestic press called that hypocritical when these guys are hanging around in Florida. Castro does them one better and has several hundred thousand people march past the US mission in protest. The international press picks it up, a lot (search Google News for Cuba). So the US picks him up. Immediately following the protest. They claim they didn't know where he was beforehand.

These guys blew up a commerical airliner. Are we really this corrupt? Am I missing something here? What the fuck...

U.S. Detains Cuban Linked to 1976 Bombing - Yahoo! News