CapelDodger
Penultimate Amazing
evildave: I think you're missing a point about al-Qaeda, which is that it never lays claim to anything. To people that are appalled by some behaviour, they say "wasn't us", and they're as convincing as their audience wants them to be. Al-Qaeda didn't do 9/11, remember; it was a super-secret Bush-Jew plot that's common knowledge to every Karachi taxi-driver, but somehow concealed from we Westerners. If the audience applauds the incident, well, sure enough they did it (conveyed by nod and wink). They get a free ride.
In the meantime, leaders like Putin can inflate their own local conflicts to re-direct attention from the reality, and stave off examination of their behaviour. The fact that they inflate al-Qaeda at the same time is probably a plus.
In the meantime, leaders like Putin can inflate their own local conflicts to re-direct attention from the reality, and stave off examination of their behaviour. The fact that they inflate al-Qaeda at the same time is probably a plus.