SALON– For much of the day yesterday, the featured headline on The New York Times online front page strongly suggested that Muslims were responsible for the attacks on Oslo; that led to definitive statements on the BBC and elsewhere that Muslims were the culprits.  The Washington Post‘s Jennifer Rubin wrote a whole column based on the assertion that Muslims were responsible, one that, as James Fallows notes, remains at the Post with no corrections or updates.  The morning statement issued by President Obama — “It’s a reminder that the entire international community holds a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring” and “we have to work cooperatively together both on intelligence and in terms of prevention of these kinds of horrible attacks” — appeared to assume, though (to its credit) did not overtly state, that the perpetrator was an international terrorist group. 

But now it turns out that the alleged perpetrator wasn’t from an international Muslim extremist group at all, but was rather a right-wing Norwegian nationalist with a history of anti-Muslim commentary and an affection for Muslim-hating blogs such as Pam Geller’s Atlas Shrugged, Daniel Pipes, and Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch.  Despite that, The New York Times is still working hard to pin some form of blame, even ultimate blame, on Muslim radicals (h/t sysprog):

Terrorism specialists said that even if the authorities ultimately ruled out Islamic terrorism as the cause of Friday’s assaults, other kinds of groups or individuals were mimicking Al Qaeda’s brutality and multiple attacks.

“If it does turn out to be someone with more political motivations, it shows these groups are learning from what they see from Al Qaeda,” said Brian Fishman, a counterterrorism researcher at the New America Foundation in Washington.

Al Qaeda is always to blame, even when it isn’t, even when it’s allegedly the work of a Nordic, Muslim-hating, right-wing European nationalist.  Of course, before Al Qaeda, nobody ever thought to detonate bombs in government buildings or go on indiscriminate, politically motivated shooting rampages.  The NYT speculates that amonium nitrate fertilizer may have been used to make the bomb because the suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, owned a farming-related business and thus could have access to that material; of course nobody would have ever thought of using that substance to make a massive bomb had it not been for Al Qaeda.  So all this proves once again what a menacing threat radical Islam is.

Read full article on Greenwald: The Meaninglessness of “Terrorism”.

Written by Glenn Greenwald

© Salon 2011

ECONOMIST– On the topic of Tibet, Xi Jinping, the man widely expected to be the next leader of the Chinese Communist Party, sounds much like his predecessors. Speaking on July 19th in the capital, Lhasa, in front of the Potala Palace, former residence of the Dalai Lamas, Tibet’s spiritual leaders, he celebrated the way Chinese rule had led Tibet “from the dark toward the light”. 

In material terms, he has an obvious point. Tibet is far better-off than in 1951, when a young Dalai Lama reached a “17-point agreement” ceding Chinese sovereignty over the territory. He also has a point that, before 1951, Tibet was not some idyllic Shangri-La of tinkling temple bells, lowing conch shells and smiling people, but a highly stratified society relying on mass monasticism and serfdom.

The difficulty Mr Xi and his predecessors face, however, is that large numbers of Tibetans resent Chinese rule. Many are still loyal to the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile with some 80,000 of his followers after the crushing of an anti-Chinese uprising in 1959. Since then the region has been scarred by periodic riots, including a bloody outburst of anti-Chinese violence in Lhasa in 2008.

This year has seen a confrontation at the Kirti monastery in a part of historic Tibet now incorporated in the Chinese province of Sichuan, after a young monk burnt himself to death in March. Hundreds of monks have been taken off for “patriotic education”. This year has also seen a heavy security crackdown to prevent any unrest to mark the 60th anniversary of the 17-point agreement, or the Party’s 90th birthday on July 1st.

China, in public at least, blames the Dalai Lama for the continued Tibetan disaffection. So its spokesmen fume when he is received by foreign leaders, especially America’s. On July 16th Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama in the White House. After the meeting, the White House emphasised that, besides underlining America’s support for Tibetans’ cultural identity and human rights, Mr Obama also repeated America’s acceptance of Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. 

Nevertheless, the People’s Daily called the meeting “an unscrupulous trick of pragmatism” that undermined the United States’ position as a great world power. Mr Obama has partly himself to blame for the accusation of pragmatism. In 2009 he postponed a meeting with the Dalai Lama in order not to sour the atmosphere for his trip to China a few months later—in effect conceding that such meetings are not matters of pure principle.

Read more about Tibet, China, and America: Towards The Light?

© 2011 The Economist

Photo by Flickr user Tanya Nagar

BBC– Human Rights Watch says activists in the Philippines are still being killed with impunity, despite the president’s campaign pledge to end such violence.

In a new report, the campaign group says it has evidence that the military was involved in seven killings and three enforced disappearances.

Each of these occurred since President Benigno Aquino took office last year, the group says.

When President Aquino came to power, he promised a change from the old regime.

The administration of his predecessor, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, had been accused of turning a blind eye to the deaths and disappearances of hundreds of people.

But according to Human Rights Watch, these abuses are still continuing.

Most of the victims – now as before – are left-wing activists and outspoken journalists.

Their families often blame the military or police of involvement.

The security forces deny the claims or say those who died were communist rebels.

Read more about Philippines Extrajudicial Killings Continue

© 2011 BBC

Photo by Flickr user The Philippine Online Chronicles

NEW JERSERY– Mary Vazquez was teaching a lesson about communities at Millburn Middle School nearly 10 years ago when another teacher rushed into her classroom with a message to give if students asked: “Two planes went into the World Trade Center. You are safe.”

When the 9/11 terror attacks occurred, schools struggled with how to handle the unthinkable news. Some locked down their buildings, others made terse announcements, and still others said nothing to students that day.

“School systems were very uncomfortable talking about it,” recalled Vazquez, now a retired teacher of Holocaust studies. “We didn’t know how many families this would affect. We didn’t know much ourselves.” 

A decade later, a detailed set of K-12 curriculum is being launched to give New Jersey educators tools for teaching about 9/11. Developed over three years and completed in time for the 10th anniversary of the attacks, the curriculum is called “Learning from the Challenges of Our Times: Global Security, Terrorism and 9/11 in the Classroom.”

The material includes lesson plans on teaching the events of that day itself, but also delves into topics ranging from the “Impact of Hateful Words,” for elementary students to “What is Terrorism?” in middle school and “Reaction to and from the Muslim and Arab Communities” for high school students.

 Also included are lessons on “acts of kindness” that occurred on 9/11, and ideas for students to help their town, community and the world.

 Created by a volunteer group called the 4 Action Initiative, made up of Families of September 11, the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education and Liberty Science Center, the effort also included former Gov. Thomas Kean and dozens of New Jersey teachers who wrote and piloted lesson plans. The curriculum is to be introduced by representatives of the group and acting State Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf at Liberty Science Center Thursday.

“This, after all, was the traumatic event of our age. It’s important children understand it, and understand it in all of its ramifications,” said Kean, who was president of Drew University when the attacks occurred. He said he was home recovering from a dental procedure that morning but after learning the news, jumped in his car and drove to campus, where he invited the entire student body to gather and talk about it.

Dr. Paul Winkler, executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, said two key themes are that all people should not be condemned because of the acts of a few, and that individuals can make a difference. The guidelines are not mandated, Winkler said, but those involved say they hope educators will want to use them to teach about the attacks and the aftermath.

Read more about N.J. To Release 9/11 Curriculum to Help Teachers Educate About Terror

© 2011 New Jersey Online

Photo by Flickr user EmilyNorton

PRESS TV– A Russian official says that Libya’s ruler Muammar Gaddafi plans to blow up the capital Tripoli with missiles if revolutionaries seize the city.  In his latest televised speech on Thursday, Gaddafi said that he will not surrender to NATO forces.

“The Libyan Premier [Baghdadi al-Mahmudi] told me: if the rebels seize the city, we will cover it with missiles and blow it up,” Russia’s special envoy to Libya Mikhail Margelov told Russian newspaper Izvestia on Thursday.

“I imagine that the Gaddafi regime does have such a suicidal plan,” Margelov added.
He said that Gaddafi still had plentiful supplies of missiles and ammunition.

The Russian envoy met with the Libyan prime minister on June 16 in Tripoli after holding talks in Benghazi earlier the same month.

Read more about ‘Gaddafi Has Suicide Plan for Tripoli’.

© 2011 PressTV

Photo by Flickr user EuanSlorach