Slog - Comments on Al Qaeda in Yenemsvelt http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt Yenemsvelt is Yiddish for nowheresville. The Right needs Al Qaeda to be an ominous threat to justify Bush's combat-heavy foreign policy. The Left needs Al Qaeda to be an ominous threat to proclaim that Bush has failed. They're both wrong. Despite the scary Afghanistan 2000/Western Pakistan 2008 analogy, Al Qeada is on the run, sequestered in the hinterlands of Pakistan while the rest of that country just voted for the secular Pakistan People's Party to take the majority position in parliament. Al Qaeda's set up in nowheresville is a metaphor. Remember: The Viet Cong had massive urban support (hello Tet... Copyright 2008 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:16:58 -0800 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:18:17 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by ae The Left? or Obama's hawkish foreign policy advisors?

(Don't bring up the tired "Hillary would be worse/the same!", she's not the nominee. As Barry would say, Get Over It.)

]]> ae http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070462 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070462 Politics Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:37:30 -0800 Comment by blank12357 @1 dude, you are waaayyy off topic.

]]> blank12357 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070518 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070518 Politics Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:58:51 -0800 Comment by Trevor "The Left needs Al Qaeda to be an ominous threat to proclaim that Bush has failed."

Wrong. The left should want the US to stop occupying other countries, and to shift our permanent war economy into a peace economy. It benefits from Al Queda not being a threat.

]]> Trevor http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070692 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070692 Politics Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:55:03 -0800 Comment by Fnarf The real reason Al Q is not a major threat is because they've worn out their welcome with their fellow Arabs and other Muslims. They're under increasing philosophical attack from their former jihadi supporters (see the New Yorker article last month), and they've thoroughly pissed off even their most sympathetic supporters in places like Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Everyone knows that their sudden infatuation with the Palestinian cause is pure opportunism. Jihadis everywhere are starting to realize what a loser their tactics have been; as one guy in that article said, "I we hadn't assassinated Sadat there would be a Palestinian state today".

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070821 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070821 Politics Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:36:19 -0800 Comment by Vince Violence appears to manifest in all socities undergoing large cultural shifts. It's happened here as well; the sixties being a good example. The Arab world is going through intense change brought about by technology and globalisation. Add to that the Gulf war in the 90's and the rush of American influence that followed and you have a recipe for violence. It is the only way some have to express their resistance especially when it can't be expressed through democracy. That's the way I see it anyway. Time will quell the upheavel. If bombing innocent civilians is their answer, they're doomed to fail anyway.

]]> Vince http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070893 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070893 Politics Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:01:13 -0800 Comment by NapoleonXIV Yenemsvelt? Isn't that in Skamania?!?

OMFG! AL QUAEDA'S RIGHT ON OUR DOORSTEP!!!!

]]> NapoleonXIV http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070938 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070938 Politics Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:15:01 -0800 Comment by NapoleonXIV Sorry for the allcaps, by the way.

I was shouting.

]]> NapoleonXIV http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070942 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070942 Politics Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:17:05 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle News flash: More than 90 percent of al-Qaeda's support - in real terms of MONEY and VOLUNTEERS is from one country and one country only - Saudi Arabia.

Get the nation off of oil and they die on the vine.

Period.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070950 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/al_qeada_in_yenemsvelt#c1070950 Politics Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:18:17 -0800