g m g D e s i g n . c o m

… Because terrorists are attacking Saudi princes. If there’s one thing that’s going to push the Saudi leadership toward reform of their crappy model of subsidizing the arrogant and anti-western Saudi citizenry, it’s the fact that the Saudi royal family has been in the crosshairs of Al Qaeda and other whacko groups for the past few years (practically speaking).

Maybe their misogynistic society will even allow women to walk outside without a male relative. That would certainly be pretty “progressive” by their standards.

It’s a wonder why feminists in this country (the US, that is) are so hung up on infanticide (“abortion”) but fail to internationalize their movement. As I recall, Thomas Barnett predicted the rise of the “feminist neo-con” who would fit neatly in this role of “international feminist.” Hence, the feminist movement could resume doing something useful and laudable (as opposed to what they’re doing now). I wonder why this movement hasn’t really materialized yet…?

The father of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl speaks out against the culture of apathy toward evil.

But somehow, barbarism, often cloaked in the language of “resistance,” has gained acceptance in the most elite circles of our society. The words “war on terror” cannot be uttered today without fear of offense. Civilized society, so it seems, is so numbed by violence that it has lost its gift to be disgusted by evil.

[...]

At my own university, UCLA, a symposium last week on human rights turned into a Hamas recruitment rally by a clever academic gimmick. The director of the Center for Near East Studies carefully selected only Israel bashers for the panel, each of whom concluded that the Jewish state is the greatest criminal in human history.

The war on terror is lost when we lose our capacity to understand evil when confronted with it, or our willingness to fight it.

Tom Friedman expresses concern for Pakistan and hope that Pakistani citizens (and Muslims around the world) will mobilize to express genuine disdain for the murderous rampage in Mumbai… and why this view point is idealistic and unrealistic.

The NY Times has an article on “new” techniques that are being employed to deter terrorists. First, it sounds like the tactics have little to do with the Cold Warrior tactics used during that era, so I interpret this as: “Cold War tactics don’t work any longer, so let’s innovate.” Having decided that, the article asserts that psychological warfare is the big tactic that they’re using, esp on the Web.