Belmont Club: Netwar and the anti-State. Wretchard posts an analysis of netwar, the conflict not between states but between "distributed networks of people." Among his conclusions: '... most States are an anti-network; in fact the ultimate hive, where drones swarm in vast pyramids around a Dear Leader, a Great Helmsman or a Driver of the Locomotive of History. And if the United States has one advantage over other states in an age of network warfare, it is because in some respects America is an anti-state; ideally, though not always in practice, a framework within which individuals can thrive. ... The key challenge is whether America, in the sense of a shared idea, can be expansive enough to permit subordinate threads which can truly "take on a life of their own", and so become agile enough to engage the Jihadis at the lowest level.' (Belmont Club)
US/Syrian confrontation: key updates. Sandmonkey has some thoughts on the curious death of a key witness in the Detlev Mehlis investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese leader Rafik Hariri: 'The Harriri assassination conspiracy gets even more complicated: A lebanese witness against Syria was killed in a mysterious road accident. A witness in the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has died in a mysterious road accident that raised suspicions of murder.Nowar Donna, owner of a mobile telephone trading business in Tripoli, was killed when his car plunged into a valley on the road to Bteghrine in Metn. An unidentified pillion also was killed, An Nahar reported Saturday. Internal Security Forces have launched an investigation into Friday's accident "amid suspicions it was a premeditated murder," according to the paper. Donna had been questioned by both Detlev Mehlis' International Independent Investigation Commission and the Lebanese judicial authorities after he was identified as the vendor of five mobile telephone sets out of eight that were used in the car bomb assassination of Hariri on Feb. 14. Huh. Must be the Jews. The same way they got this dude to "commit suicide". It's all to make Syria look guilty. Those Damn Mossad agents. But the Syrians are all about Pan-arabism even if it violates its interests, which is why they rejected Egypt and Saudi's mediation for Russia's. Ehh.wait a sec.. The Russian mediation spared Syria impending sanctions for its refusal to cooperate with the investigation into Hariri's Feb. 14 assassination. Syria preferred the Russian mediation over Egypt's and Saudi Arabia's because Moscow enjoys veto power at the U.N. Security Council which it could use in the event of a new confrontation between Damascus and the international community, An Nahar reported Sunday. And it has brought good results: neither Assad's little brother or his Brother in law were asked for questioning. Thank you Russia. ...' Meanshile, Ed at Captain's Quarters has some thoughts on Russian support for Syria's main ally: 'The Russians may soon rethink their defense of the Islamic Republic of Iran against the West if this report from the Sunday Telegraph gets confirmed, although it should surprise no one paying any attention to the global war on terror. According to Con Coughlin, the Iranian government has secretly trained Chechen rebels to conduct more effective terror strikes against Russian targets while Moscow continues to argue on Teheran's behalf ...'. Dreams Into Lightning has aggregated recent news items on Syria here: USMC-Syrian firefight (various)
