http://threatswatch.org/commentary/ Our Views en Copyright © 2005, ThreatsWatch, LLC. Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:41:36 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site, subject to copyright and fair use. The current lack of strong leadership at the helm of Israel’s government is being perceived as a symbol of weakness, especially by radical Islamists, who could exploit this period of uncertainty and use it to their advantage to further advance their goals of Middle East domination. The current vacuum in... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/438444910/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/10/transitional-times-that-underm/ Arab-Israeli Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:41:36 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/10/transitional-times-that-underm/ On Monday, control of Anbar province and responsibility for security there was handed over to Provincial Iraqi Control. This is a profoundly remarkable event, as al-Anbar province – the onetime headquarters for al-Qaeda in Iraq – was seen by many as lost due to security and political conditions on the... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/381492229/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/09/understanding-iraq/ Iraq Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:20:00 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/09/understanding-iraq/ The Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently released their new vision (PDF) for the future of the community. While no one expects perfection from such works, it is a remarkably forward leaning effort that sparks a bit of optimism for those who think serious change is too long... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/355990653/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/08/intelligent-progress/ US Domestic Security Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:00:55 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/08/intelligent-progress/ “This, we will defend.” It is a common refrain among brothers in arms. Yet, more pressing than the visible threat from terrorists and the states which sponsor them, we are at serious risk of losing sight of what “this” is while we call on those few dedicated men and women... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/348039135/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/07/my-country-tis-of-thee/ War on Terror Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:20:00 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/07/my-country-tis-of-thee/ With the passage of a new FISA law, a predictable hue and cry from privacy advocates and fear-mongers has reached a crescendo. So-called “domestic spying,” we are assured, will soon bring about an end to the republic and personal and civil liberties in a fashion that only the Emperor Palpatine... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/339087818/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/07/disconnect-on-domestic-surveil/ US Domestic Security Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:15:00 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/07/disconnect-on-domestic-surveil/ Fighting “over there” so we don’t have to “fight them at home” was aimed at the Islamist threat, but a real-live shooting war is no further away than our southern border: The intensifying warfare in Mexico between capitalist drug cartels and government troops has undermined the functioning of the government... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/318858940/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/06/the-war-next-door/ US Domestic Security Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:20:03 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/06/the-war-next-door/ America’s greatest strength in wartime has long been its economic and industrial might. Record oil prices are damaging this capacity. Yet the cause for the sustained spike in oil prices has less to do with increased global demand or fluctuations in supply than most acknowledge. Rather, an irrational market panic... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/293302865/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/05/crude-hypochodria/ Economic Mon, 19 May 2008 03:00:00 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/05/crude-hypochodria/ From the initial political debate to the advent of the Iraqi insurgency, certain pundits have lamented the disastrous parallels between the current conflict in Iraq and America’s intervention in Vietnam. At first, the blithely opined comparisons seemed largely superficial, and many remain so despite the passage of time and continued... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/281437889/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/05/iraq-the-new-vietnam/ Iraq Thu, 01 May 2008 08:30:55 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/05/iraq-the-new-vietnam/ The ongoing fight over what the US intelligence community is allowed to do under pending revised Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) legislation has been clouded by suspicion, hyperbole, and a lack of knowledge regarding the intelligence business. Those who are suspicious of government intentions are right to be cautious, but... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/245917166/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/03/toward-a-saner-surveillance-s/ War on Terror Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:00:01 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/03/toward-a-saner-surveillance-s/ Juan Cole lambasts terror-in-cyberspace in an article on Salon. In a certain sense I agree with him, but predictably he joins a long list of experts in varying fields that take aim at this issue and strike far from the bull’s-eye. For starters, I don’t know any serious analyst who... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/241718620/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/02/getting-serious-about-virtual/ Terrorism Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:20:47 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/02/getting-serious-about-virtual/ Counterterrorism and psychological warfare. It’s deadly serious business. Yet, it is difficult listen to the latest from al-Qaeda’s Iraqi puppet without some amusement. The Artist Formerly Known As Abdullah al-Naima read his al-Qaeda in Iraq cue cards in an audio message and threatened Israel, laying criticism at the feet of... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/235721879/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/02/abdullah-alnaimas-cue-cards/ Iraq Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:21:35 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/02/abdullah-alnaimas-cue-cards/ The ancient city of Damascus received another mark of recognition last week. Following in the wake of Liverpool - which was recognized as the European Capital of Culture, and Stavanger in Norway, which was named the non-EU European Capital of Culture, UNESCO last week designated Damascus as the Arab Capital... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/231058674/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/02/the-culture-of-tyranny/ Syria Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:30:05 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/02/the-culture-of-tyranny/ Defense Secretary Robert Gates voiced candid concern regarding the counterinsurgency (COIN) capabilities and tactics being employed by NATO forces currently in Afghanistan. And while it appears to have ruffled the feathers of some NATO allies the wrong way, Secretary Gates was correct in what he said and also correct in... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/218971503/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/01/a-flip-of-the-coin/ Afghanistan Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:00:00 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/01/a-flip-of-the-coin/ From a security and intelligence perspective, the new year in the long war has started out like previous years. Faced with serious and often overwhelming problems, the government proposes several solutions aimed at improving our security that are almost certain to fail to achieve that objective. The FBI for example,... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/217950282/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/01/a-dearth-of-original-thinking/ War on Terror Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:02:44 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/01/a-dearth-of-original-thinking/ Readers of ThreatsWatch and related sites are probably not strangers to the controversy surrounding the firing of Stephen Coughlin, late an Islamic law scholar on the Joint Staff. Reportedly he was sacked for his “extreme” opinions on radical Islam, which included such radical ideas as not affiliating with Islamic groups... http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/threatswatch/commentary/~3/214038993/ http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/01/self-inflicted-ideological-wounds/ War on Terror Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:20:09 -0500 http://threatswatch.org/commentary/2008/01/self-inflicted-ideological-wounds/