těr’ə-rĭz’əm: Why We Struggle to Define the Defining Threat of Our Time

While addressing an international counter-terrorism meeting in Tunis last Thursday (15th), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), spoke about the need for the world to come up with a clear, internationally recognised definition of the term ‘terrorism’. “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”– unattributed Ihsanoglu made a [...]

Passing the ‘Buck’

Back in June 2003, with its oil exports to Europe already euro-denominated, Dr Mohammed Jaffar Mojarrad, then Vice-Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), announced that Iran would be prepared to offer member countries of the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) a two-month settlement period for oil transactions. But there was one caveat: though trades [...]

Who is Emmanuel Goldstein?

Friday’s announcement that Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, one of al Qaeda’s highest-ranking operatives, has been arrested, is a reminder that the ‘War on Terror’ is still very much a work-in-progress. But, with President George Bush warning Congress that he will veto their war funding bill (or, more accurately, their Iraq Troop Protection and Reduction Act of [...]