"The online world of Islamic extremists, like all the other worlds of the Internet, operates on a subtly psychological level that does a brilliant job at keeping people like Abumubarak clicking and posting away -- and amassing all the rankings, scores, badges, and levels to prove it. Like virtually every other popular online social space, the social space of online jihadists has become "gamified," a term used to describe game-like attributes applied to non-game activities.
It turns out that what drives online jihadists is pretty much exactly what drives Internet trolls, airline ticket consumers, and World of Warcraft players: competition."
[more inside]
posted by vidur
on Jan 14, 2012 -
22 comments
"
After Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden, the White House released a photo of President Barack Obama and his Cabinet inside the Situation Room, watching the daring raid unfold. Hidden from view, standing just outside the frame of that now-famous photograph was a career CIA analyst" -
The man who hunted Osama bin Laden
posted by vidur
on Jul 5, 2011 -
58 comments
The Dancer and the Terrorist. When Peru’s most wanted man,
Abimael Guzmán Reynoso, was captured in 1992, a young ballerina,
Maritza Garrido Lecca, went to jail
too, for harbouring him at her studio. The story was turned into a
novel and
film, “
The Dancer Upstairs” (
trailer). This year, the author of the novel,
Nicholas Shakespeare, flew to Lima to meet the dancer at last — and to ask her whether she was guilty.
posted by zarq
on Jan 20, 2011 -
13 comments
If you look at that video of Mohammad Sidique Khan [one of the 7/7 bombers] recording a video for his nine-month-old daughter, when he thought he was going to fight and die in Afghanistan, he was saying, ‘You and your mum are the best thing in my life, and I’d love to watch you growing up and learning to speak.’ And you realise that he’s making a pretty soppy speech from a middle-of-the-road Hollywood movie. He’s the ‘good dad’. And in his head he is. And that doesn’t preclude him going out and doing something violent. You do bad things not because you think they’re bad, but because you think they’re good — unless you’re a nihilist. British satirist Chris Morris discusses his first feature film
Four Lions, which is a comedy about Islamist suicide bombers.
Trailer.
Clip, concerning peroxide. Audio interview with Morris about the film,
Part 1 and
Part 2.
posted by Sticherbeast
on Apr 6, 2010 -
47 comments
Security expert (and personal hero) Bruce Schneier on the subject of
movie plot threats :
Sometimes it seems like the people in charge of homeland security spend too much time watching action movies. They defend against specific movie plots instead of against the broad threats of terrorism.
This month, Schneier announces a
contest for readers of his blog and newsletter - submit the most unlikely, yet still plausible, terrorist attack scenarios you can come up with.
From the announcement :
"The prize will be an autographed copy of Beyond Fear. And if I can swing it, a phone call with a real live movie producer."
posted by Afroblanco
on Apr 8, 2006 -
31 comments
Quiz
#1 is about survival.
#2 is about movies. #1 is a little weird (with its answers) and #2 has no answers! Drove me nuts.
posted by snsranch
on Mar 1, 2006 -
42 comments
USF Professor acquitted of terrorism charges -- After being in prison for 3 years--much of that time in solitary confinement--
Sami Al-Arian was acquitted today of 8 "key charges" (there was a hung jury on 9 other charges).
In all, there was not one guilty verdict out of the 51 charges against Al-Arian and the three other men. The prosecution brought forth 80 witnesses and recorded over 20,000 hours of tapped phone calls--the defense didn't call a single witness.
Now the government is trying to decide whether to retry him on the nine counts or to deport him to Israel--a move his attorney is calling "totally vindictive."
posted by whatgorilla
on Dec 7, 2005 -
54 comments
The Cult of Zaoui. Algerian
Ahmed Zaoui arrived in New Zealand in December 2002, having been convicted in Belgium and France (in absentia) for terrorism-related offences, on a false passport requesting
refugee status. He was imprisoned for two years (spending
ten months in solitary confinement) as a result of the Security Intelligence Service issuing a
security risk certificate, before the
NZ Supreme Court granted him bail. He now lives in a
Dominican Priory in Auckland under curfew, but manages (accompanied by his
crusading young lawyer) to give
public lectures, offer
eulogies, publish a
book of
poetry, appear in a
music video (wmv), sing onstage at the
NZ Music Awards, inspire a fund-raising cookbook "Conversations over Couscous", and has become (depending on your viewpoint) a reluctant or carefully cultivated celebrity.
posted by szechuan
on Nov 21, 2005 -
13 comments
Al Qaeda Posts Online Magazine Al Qaeda has, reportedly, published the first issue of an online magazine aimed at recruitment of Muslims to get rid of the infidels and apostates (Americans and Iraqi aides) in Iraq.
Washington-based counterterrorism specialist Evan Kohlmann said the magazine aims at 'conveying the sense that the organization is professional, capable, and really understands what they're doing."
It was designed as 'an attempt to refute the idea that Zarqawi and these people are desperate. . . . It shows that these people have time on their hands and don't have to worry about mobility," he said.
posted by fenriq
on Mar 4, 2005 -
47 comments
Terrorist Video Bloopers Chicago comedy troupe Teatro Bastardo spoofs the hostage video: Three warnings:
1. Windows Media Player required
2. Funny AND offensive
3. Might be low-bandwidth
posted by lilboo
on Jan 20, 2005 -
28 comments
9/11 report preview "As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done," he said. "This was not something that had to happen."
We must wait till January for the full report.
posted by jbou
on Dec 17, 2003 -
17 comments
Misinterpreting Osama's Message: Erring on the Side of Danger (via AlterNet)
Bin Laden's messages are mistaken for unconditional threats and vows to attack. They are really conditional warnings that whatever we do, they will respond in kind. Some new insights from reading between the lines of OBL's communiques without lapsing into left wing apologia (More inside)
posted by BentPenguin
on Nov 22, 2002 -
17 comments
'20th Hijacker' Offers Guilty Plea and Cooperation
He is charged with helping plan the September 11 attack. During his third arraignment on amended charges, Zacarias Moussaoui offered to enter a guilty plea.
"For the guilt phase, I'm guilty," he told the judge. "But for the death penalty, we will see." You'd think in this day and age, it'd be hard to pull off a complete surprise. Moussaoui is representing himself.
posted by rschram
on Jul 18, 2002 -
15 comments
Operation TIPS is a
national system for reporting suspicious, and potentially terrorist-related activity. The program will involve the millions of American workers who, in the daily course of their work, are in a unique position to see potentially unusual or suspicious activity in public places.
Here's a
Boston Globe editorial on the program.
posted by Ty Webb
on Jul 17, 2002 -
33 comments
Terror Suspect Puts Court to the Test In a virulent, 50-minute speech in open court, Moussaoui -- the man government prosecutors say was meant to be the 20th hijacker on Sept. 11 -- fired his court-appointed defense team, accusing them of working with the U.S. government to secure his execution. He also informed U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema that he plans to mount his own defense.
Funny.
posted by Niahmas
on May 2, 2002 -
6 comments
NYT: CBS's JAG To Explore Terror Military Tribunal
The Pentagon is reportedly very happy with the show. The episode portraying the secret trial of a Saudi-born terrorist will air on April 30. In this week's episode, a character feels stung when his coworkers favor someone else to win a race in a betting pool. (
1,
2)
posted by rschram
on Mar 30, 2002 -
4 comments
Skywriting "God is great" scares bejesus out of Palm Beach residents, assuming the message might be the beginning of a terrorist attack. Is this any different than skywriting "Allah is great," and would the pilot have been treated any differently?
posted by johnnyace
on Jan 4, 2002 -
12 comments
