Center for Strategic Communication

References from the Past

by | Apr 8, 2013 | Monitor

More thoughtful analyts know that militant Islamic momvements existed long before September 11th.  I make it an effort to collect books on political Islam, Islamism, jihad-centered groups, etc that predate 2001. This, in order to view radical movements without the...

On Reading Zawahiri

by | Apr 22, 2012 | Monitor

Part one of the 2d edition of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s autobiography – Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet (Knights2) – is 560 pages in translation.  Written during Zawahiri’s 60th year, the text is a broad, personal look at life inside (what I will call...

Signs and Signifiers

by | Feb 15, 2012 | Monitor

While I work on another Knights2 post, I’ve decided to toss out an idea that will probably remain underdeveloped unless someone else wants to pick up the loose threads I’m about to drop.   Not long ago, I decided to read all the poetry in Knights2 in succession, but...

Faces of the Arab Spring (IV)

by | Nov 20, 2011 | Monitor

I'm posting an expanded version of the remarks I gave at Newman University in Wichita on November 3, 2011.  The linked document consists of the notes, "cleaned up" and organized into something coherent. Download "FacesNotes" (.pdf) I could...