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Defining Terrorism

…f September 11th 2001, the July 7th 2005 bombings and the constant reminders that the Western world is under attack have lead to the creation of an environment where it is all to easy to instinctively label an action, a person or a movement as terrorist. This paper asserts that the world of academia has proved impotent in its attempts to arrive at a common definition of terrorism because the under…

Israel & Egypt: War On The Horizon

…16;Arab Summer’ and the cultural and technical advancements of the Caliphate, a time where the Islamic world bowed to none and distributed knowledge to all? There are numerous issues with such a label, not least that no-one partaking in the uprisings would contemplate calling the movement as such. But more important is this insinuation that the Middle East (and North Africa) are to move into…

The Falkland, Las Malvinas

…n associated with this historic dispute, incorporating its foundations in Roland Barthesʼ semiological analysis of myth-symbols. The analysis will then look at an alternative approach through Benedict Andersonʼs ʻimagined communitiesʼ. During the analysis a number of examples will be discussed including language, symbols, speeches and events from the years preceding the war to the present day in o…

Should You Commit Torture?

…(that he definitely possesses) that could prevent a mass murder of innocent people. Do the numbers not tell us that he should most definitely be tortured, or am I barking up the completely wrong tree? Tom Hashemi…

Rightly Or Wrongly, An Israeli Attack Is Inevitable

The timer to the first of many Israeli missiles killing the first of many Iranian citizens comes increasingly and inevitably closer to zero. Israel has a history of taking preventative measures to stop Middle Eastern states from challenging its nuclear hegemony over the region. The attacks on Osirak and Al Kibar (Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007 respectively) exemplify what is known as the Begin…

Cyber-Espionage

…) [85] Henderson, (2008) [86] Walton, (2008) [87] Henderson, (2008); Hutton, (2007) [88] ibid. [89] ibid. [90] ibid. [91] Glaister, (2009) [92] Markoff, (2009) [93] Villeneuve, (2010); Nagaraja, & Anderson, (2009) [94] IWM, (2009) [95] Markoff, (2009) [96] Harvey, (2009); Hsiao, (2010); GS, (2011) [97] Villeneuve, (2010); Nagaraja & Anderson, (2009) [98] Akkad, (2012) [99] Schneier, (2011b…

Innocence of Americans: E- Reactions to the Assassination of Christopher Stevens

…been moderated by western politics. Many of the users posting on political threads use terminology such as ‘RAND Muslim’, ‘house negro’, ‘Quilliam‘ and ‘Uncle Tom’ as insults for users who appear to sympathize with the murder of J Christopher Stevens, or believe that “The Innocence of Muslims” cannot or should not be censored. Such termin…

POW! Act Tough On Play Fighting And Vaccinate Against Mass Shootings

Last week on The Blog, Tom Hashemi discussed the case of a 6 year old at a Maryland elementary school who was suspended for pretending to shoot a classmate with his fingers. Cheeks puffed, thumb at the ready to pull the invisible trigger. POW. Tom considered the school’s decision to suspend the child an overreaction, even more so that his parents hired an attorney to fight the decision in the hop…

The End of American Exceptionalism

…d election results where American exceptionalism ends. Billions of dollars were spent by both sides in this election and what resulted was a return to the status quo and potentially years of gridlock. Tom Brokaw (former NBC Nightly News Anchor) wrote a book called “Greatest Generation” in which he describes a generation of Americans that was both united in common cause and common values. This was…

The Second Amendment: An Outdated, Ideological Fallacy

This is not about rationality: arguments against gun control are almost entirely constructed and founded on their ideological underpinnings. And as with any devout ideologue, the wider picture and the resultant implications are willfully and purposefully ignored. This piece was co-authored by Peter Kelly. Anthony Machinski’s recent piece on TRS – “Gun Control: You Can’t Test…

Nationalism Rises: Survival, the State, and War.

…t least three fundamental aspects: preservation of the “nation” or a given community of people; protection and reproduction of a unique cultural identity; defence of sovereignty. Firstly, according to Anderson (1991) the nation is defined as an imagined political community. “Imagined” because its fellow-members will never know or meet most of their peers; by imagining themselves as a particular co…

An Introduction To Nationalism Theory

…ity and virtual fanaticism that nationalisms frequently inspire. To this end, perhaps a review of the pre-modern roots and symbolic layering of such ties and identities can elucidate further. Benedict Anderson, another key modernist, evokes ‘imagined communities’ as an explanation for feelings of kinship amongst citizens who will never meet, expanding on Gellner’s thesis, with a focus on print cap…

Israel, Iran & Nuclear Double Standards

If Israel is worried about a nuclear arms race then it should initiate a Middle Eastern nuclear-free zone. In a recent article, Tom Anderson argued that Israeli fears of a nuclear Iran are not, contrary to what I had previously written, based on the possible direct existential threat Iran poses but rather on the fact that it would trigger a nuclear arms race in the region. Although I disagree…

Human Rights As A Tool For A Palestinian State

…e sense in the dominant news agenda of the ‘war on terror’. Journalists feel great pressure to conform to this news agenda.” Micheal Oatley (2008)4, former head of the MI6, noted how the war on terror label of terrorist organization is dangerous for political actors such as the IRA, the Hezbollah, and the Hamas. It impedes negotiations by taking away a priori from these actors the rational capacit…

Moral Compulsion To Torture A Child

…Nagel, Thomas. ‘War and Massacre’. Philosophy and Public Affairs 1.2 (1972): 123-144. 10. Narveson, Jan. “Violence and War”. Matters of Life and Death: New Introductory Essays in Moral Philosophy. Ed. Tom Regan. New York: Random House, 1980. 109-147. 11. Otsuka, Michael. ‘Skepticism about Saving the Greater Number’. Philosophy and Public Affairs 32.4 (2004): 413-426. 12. Quinn, Warren S. ‘Actions,…