MetaFilter posts tagged with Terrorism and politics

Life imitating art

numberstation — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:00:44 -0800

Life imitating art Disclaimer: noted it was Iraq depicted in Monkey Dust and not Afghanistan but you get the idea.

Leon Panetta and the C.I.A.

homunculus — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:20:09 -0800

The Secret History: Can Leon Panetta move the C.I.A. forward without confronting its past?

"So Say We All"

zarq — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:07:01 -0800

Fantasy Meets Reality. The very best works of science fiction illuminate controversial current events and the intricacies of human nature. So, it's no surprise that the United Nations Public Information Department and the Sci Fi (SyFy?) Channel co-hosted a panel yesterday evening on "humanitarian concerns" at the UN, with the creators and actors of Battlestar Galactica -- a show which regularly explores those themes. A 2-hour video webcast is archived here. (RealPlayer video). Entertainment Weekly has an additional write-up. SciFi.com will eventually have a transcript up of the event. The first link in this post is a review by the television critic of the NJ Star-Ledger. More on why the UN decided to host the panel. Topics discussed last night include human rights; terrorism; children and armed conflict; and reconciliation and dialogue among civilizations and faiths. The panel was moderated by Whoopi Goldberg, with Mary McDonnell, Edward James Olmos, Ron Moore and David Eick participating.

The American Military Crisis

homunculus — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:40:36 -0800

Illusions of Victory: How the United States Did Not Reinvent War… But Thought It Did. Is Perpetual War Our Future? Learning the Wrong Lessons from the Bush Era. Two excerpts from The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, the new book by Andrew Bacevich (previously: 1, 2, 3, 4).

"Are we in the midst of a coup?"

homunculus — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:50:14 -0800

2009: A True Story. "My name is Sara Ford and I am 18 years old. I moved to California at the end of last year. Before the first attacks... before everything changed." [Via] On YouTube: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12, Episode 13. NSFW.

Vang Pao

homunculus — Sun, 11 May 2008 13:05:22 -0800

Gen. Vang Pao’s Last War. "The U.S. government relied on Vang Pao and his Hmong soldiers to battle Communism in the jungles of Laos. Why is the Justice Department now calling him a terrorist?" The Hmong in America and Vang Pao were previously discussed here and here.

Charges against artist Steve Kurtz thrown out

homunculus — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:45:42 -0800

Biomaterial charges against N.Y. art professor dismissed. A judge has thrown out the charges against Steve Kurtz. Finally. Kurtz's case was previously discussed here and here. [Via]

Watch Lists

homunculus — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:50:34 -0800

ACLU Watch List Counter: U.S. Terror List Now Exceeds 900,000 Names. That's an awful lot of terrorists. More Privacy and Surveillance Filter: Bruce Schneier on The Myth of the 'Transparent Society', Glenn Greenwald on The Banality of the Surveillance State, and Stephen Colbert on AT & Treason. A spokesman for the Terrorist Screening Center had a response to the ACLU in a comment at Threat Level.

Improved Billboard Touts AT&T and NSA Collaboration

homunculus — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:00:15 -0800

"The Billboard Liberation Front today announced a major new advertising improvement campaign executed on behalf of clients AT&T and the National Security Agency. Focusing on billboards in the San Francisco area, this improvement action is designed to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants." [Via Threat Level.]

Afghanistan on the brink

homunculus — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 23:31:09 -0800

Stumbling into chaos: Afghanistan on the brink. A report from the Senlis Council think tank claims that the Taliban has a permanent presence in more than half of Afghan territory and the country is in serious danger of falling back into their hands. The Canadian and British governments disagree.

To prevent homegrown terrorism, and for other purposes.

Huplescat — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:34:38 -0800

HR 1955 : The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens. While the United States must continue its vigilant efforts to combat international terrorism, it must also strengthen efforts to combat the threat posed by homegrown terrorists based and operating within the United States.

Remember, remember the fifth of November

homunculus — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:30:12 -0800

Happy Counterterrorism Day.

Terrorism or fearmongering?

Dillonlikescookies — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:25:23 -0800

Tame Iti, Maori activist, is no stranger to controversy - with his full facial moko he has a face you won't soon forget. But is he a terrorist? Recently, the New Zealand Police force carried out a series of "raids" against a "training camp" in the north island, in the first use of the Terrorism Suppression Act, legislated in 2002. The act itself is not without it's critics but the country seems divided about the raids. Deluded extremists? Harmless Activist? or Real Threat? Some have claimed the raids are politically motivated, enacted by a police force with a declining public image. The whole case is racially loaded The "culture of fear" that is so written about seems to have trickled down somewhat, but time will tell whether it stays with the NZ public. By one account the camps are "amateurish" and with the exception of Tame Iti the most significant charge seems to be possession of a firearm without a license. The police, however, are certainly not helping matters - releasing information suggesting the group intended to start a "race war" and aimed to created an independent state through methods borrowed from the IRA, while keeping quiet on other details. Their press release here Troublesome, to me, is that the police also conducted a "non-raid" of the homes of environmental activists simultaneously, most notably in Christchurch, over a thousand kilometres away. I don't mean to start the thread with strong bent on it, but personally I find this worrying. New Zealand has had it's share of radicals, gun-wielding-forest-living cultists and so on, but the hype that this has reached in the media is unsettling. Worth noting, of course, is the Tuhoe tribe, of which Tame Iti is a member, with unresolved/ignored disputes with the government, which are a significant sticking point. Given this, and the harsh treatment of Tame Iti in regards to the flag protest, was further "radicalization" inevitable? Does the government have a responsibility, not so much to prevent radical groups from acting violently, but instead to incorporate them into public discourse rather than disenfranchise, and thus alienate them and antagonize them? Your thoughts?

The Automated Targeting System, the US government's record-keeping system on travelers

ibmcginty — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 08:45:45 -0800

Today's Washington Post: "The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials." "John Gilmore, a civil liberties activist in San Francisco whose records were requested by the Identity Project... [had an Automated Targeting System file], which he provided to The Washington Post, included a note from a Customs and Border Patrol officer that he carried the marijuana-related book 'Drugs and Your Rights.' 'My first reaction was I kind of expected it,' Gilmore said. 'My second reaction was, that's illegal.'" The program, disclosed in the Federal Register in November and reported on at the time, has been criticized by civil liberties groups(many links at that page) as illegal under the Privacy Act, and by security experts as "a waste of money" (many links at that page too). The reach of the program was unknown until the Post article. Here's the DHS's Privacy Impact Statement (pdf) on the program from last November.

11:54

homunculus — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:54:25 -0800

Surveillance Society Clock. "It's six minutes before midnight as a surveillance society draws near within the United States." [Via Danger Room.]

Homeland Insecurity

homunculus — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:00:16 -0800

Homeland Insecurity. "What happened to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, which Democratic leaders promised to make one of their top legislative priorities? What are the most deadly potential terrorist targets no one talks about—and who's lobbying against securing them? What's the one measure that could improve our chances of preventing an attack—without costing a penny? Why are the 2008 presidential candidates—Republicans and Democrats alike—nowhere on this issue? In this seven-part series Mother Jones' senior correspondent James Ridgeway examines how the government has let homeland security languish since September 11, 2001, with dire consequences."

"If you scratch a paranoid, you find a narcissist"

homunculus — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:10:28 -0800

What's the Big Secret? Four surveillance experts try to figure out what the NSA's superclassified wiretapping program really is (hint: it may have something to do with the filters). They don't seem to realize that this kind of reckless public discussion means some Americans are going to die. [Via Threat Level.]

Death Grip

homunculus — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:45:30 -0800

Death Grip: How Political Psychology Explains Bush's Ghastly Success. Interesting article on the work of psychologists Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon, and Tom Pyszczynski. [Via Disinformation.]

America to the Rescue

homunculus — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:55:12 -0800

Three Generations of “America to the Rescue.”

National Surveillance State

homunculus — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 17:40:07 -0800

Bush Gets a Spying Blank Check. The passage of the new FISA bill was a hurried response to the revelation that the FISA court recently decided that at least part of the NSA wiretapping program is illegal. It looks to be another step in our gradual transition into a National Surveillance State.

Lord of War

homunculus — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:58:08 -0800

Busting the Merchant of War. "The Bush administration finally nails a notorious supplier to terrorists—after he spent 30 years hiding in plain sight." [Via Disinformation.]

Green Scare

homunculus — Mon, 14 May 2007 14:03:57 -0800

The Green Scare: Rod Coronado gave a talk in San Diego and the feds called his words ‘terrorism.’ How new laws are equating environmentalists with Al Qaeda. [Via Gristmill.]

Darth Cheney Strikes Back

homunculus — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 20:26:36 -0800

Hussein's Prewar Ties To Al-Qaeda Discounted. A newly declassified report (PDF) by the Pentagon's inspector general claims that Iraq was not working with al-Qaeda before the U.S. invasion and that the intelligence was manipulated by then-Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith. On the same day as the report came out, Dick Cheney claimed that they did have a relationship via Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Zarqawi may be dead, but he's still useful. [Via TalkLeft.]

"Bush is fighting two wars, one against the enemy abroad and the other against the enemy at home."

bardic — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 17:43:14 -0800

"Why do they hate us?" was a fairly common question asked by Americans in the wake of 9/11. In his new book The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11, Dinesh D'souza gives us the answer: "the cultural left and its allies in Congress, the media, Hollywood, the nonprofit sector, and the universities are the primary cause of the volcano of anger toward America that is erupting from the Islamic world." Some reviews: WaPo, The American Conservative, Esquire. D'souza previously on mefi: [1] [2] [3]

Guantanamo Bay: 5th Anniversay Today Triggers International Protests

Bodyguard — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 01:12:34 -0800

Jan. 11, 2002, the first 20 detainees, shackled and blindfolded, arrived from Afghanistan .... and since then, nearly 800 prisoners have passed through the detention center in southeastern Cuba. To mark the anniversary, demonstrations are planned Thursday in New York, London, Sydney, Australia, and other cities as well as dozens of small towns in the United States and Britain. Gitmo Detainees Join Hunger Strike .... & .... WikiPeidia History Article