Matthew Carr's Blog, page 50
February 14, 2015
Chapel Hill: Stop calling it ‘terrorism’
Within hours, the Chapel Hill murders were subjected to competing arguments about whether the tragedy was a ‘hate-crime’ against Muslims or an ‘ordinary’ crime in which the religious identity of the victims was not a major factor. The case against … Continue reading →
February 12, 2015
The Chapel Hill Murders
There are times when one feels numbed into a stupefied sense of inevitability by the routine flow of horrors that churns through the mass media on an almost daily basis. But the murders of the three North Carolina Muslim students … Continue reading →
February 10, 2015
Europe’s Migrants: let them die, God will know his own
Even by the awful standards of Europe’s maritime borders, the deaths of 29 migrants last Sunday are a terrible testament to the continent’s collective indifference. Late last Sunday, two Italian coastguard boats picked up 105 migrants from an inflatable boat … Continue reading →
February 9, 2015
ISIS: sadism as strategy
Ever since it began its astonishing rampage through central Iraq last year, the organization known as Daesh/ISIS has demonstrated a propensity for extreme violence and cruelty that has made its predecessors looked comparatively mild by comparison. At times ISIS almost … Continue reading →
February 7, 2015
Farage in Rotherham
The Jay and Casey reports on the Rotherham sexual abuse scandal make grim and horrific reading. They describe a vicious pattern of rape, sexual abuse and blackmail of young white girls by men of mostly Pakistani origins; the manipulation of … Continue reading →
February 5, 2015
Terrorism and the state: a marriage made in hell
It’s something of a truism in the world of terrorism studies that non-state terrorists carry out extreme acts of violence in order to provoke an extreme reaction from the army or the government they’re fighting. In some cases such groups … Continue reading →
February 3, 2015
The United States of Human Rights
Let no one say that the United States government doesn’t take human rights seriously. Let every dictator or human right abuser take note that the United States will not tolerate any regime that commits acts of violence and terror against … Continue reading →
February 2, 2015
Timothy Garton Ash’s Awfully Big War
There are some liberals who give liberals a bad name and Timothy Garton Ash is one of them. They build up their careers posing as thoughtful and nuanced independent commentators, arguing that ‘facts are subversive’, yet when push comes to … Continue reading →
February 1, 2015
Boris Johnson and the rise of the porno-terrorist
Seasoned readers of this site might be surprised to know that the single most common search category that brings new readers to this site is pornography, more specifically, a category known as ‘British army porn.’ Readers interested in this phenomenon … Continue reading →
January 30, 2015
Jacques Peretti’s Gilded City
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a good documentary on the BBC, let alone an essential one. But for those who haven’t seen it, I really recommend Jacques Peretti’s outstanding series on the super-rich, which you can still … Continue reading →
