New York Times (September 21)
“The lethal detonation of hand-held pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah militants this week in Lebanon… raised questions about a gaping vulnerability in the global supply chain.” The attacks are likely to “accelerate supply chain changes,” including reshoring and nearshoring, that the pandemic catalyzed to insure “against the perils of international shipping.” Each supply chain movement and “every additional company brought into the manufacturing process represents an opportunity for those pursuing violent agendas to insinuate themselves into the works and weaponize the product.”
Tags: Attacks, Detonation, Gaping vulnerability, Hezbollah, International shipping, Lebanon, Lethal, Manufacturing process, Militants, Nearshoring, Pagers, Pandemic, Perils, Reshoring, Supply chain
Chicago Tribune (January 14)
“Each of the attacks in Paris that killed 17 people last week was an atrocity, an affront to freedom and an act of terrorism.” Still, this is unlikely to mark “the beginning of a rash of extremist violence in the West.” Since 9/11, “the danger posed by Islamic militants” has been chronically overestimated. Some of this is due to human nature. We “worry too much about dramatic, unusual dangers, like terrorism and Ebola, and too little about commonplace ones.” But there is also “a giant public-private network that has a stake in stoking these fears.”
Tags: 9/11, Atrocity, Attacks, Danger, Ebola, Extremists, Fear, Militants, Paris, Terrorism, Violence
Washington Post (October 23)
It’s reassuring to think “that the Islamic State is its own worst enemy, so extreme in doctrine and practice that it will galvanize opposition within the Islamic world.” The “sobering truth” is less comforting. “The Islamic State also has picked up popular support and the allegiance of other militants in countries as far away as Algeria and Pakistan.”
Tags: Algeria, Allegiance, Doctrine, Enemy, Islamic State, Militants, Opposition, Pakistan, Reassuring, Support
New York Times (May 15, 2013)
Pakistan’s “election was a welcome repudiation of militants who are trying to overthrow the state.” With nearly 60% voter participation, Pakistan is achieving “a peaceful transition of power in a country where coups have predominated…. Pakistanis deserve credit for their courage, and the military for allowing the election to go ahead and deploying 73,000 troops to keep order.”
