Is Worldwide Islamic Terror on the Ebb?

Is Worldwide Islamic Terror on the Ebb?

There’s certainly no dearth of terror events to report from Pakistan, the Mid-east, Afghanistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Iraq, etc. in any given week, however there are now single days without a report of Islamic terror anywhere.

For three years I’ve done an almost daily surf of news from all electronic sources looking for terror events. I have some key words I search, and 2006 through mid-2008 I could find multiple daily reports of actual terror events or terror plots interrupted all around the world. By combining search results from separate key words like “killed,” “bomb,” “Mohammed,” “Muhammed,” “Abdul,” you would get multiple news reports from various papers around the globe, from Algeria to Zimbabwe. I would find multiple reports every day.

Now the reports are not daily, and the fresh attacks come almost entirely from several known terror hotspots: Pakistan leads, followed by Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza, Thailand and the Philippines. The terror we see in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan is mostly Muslims versus other Muslims.

The recent big exception to this trend is the Mumbai attack in Indian last year, but in general “worldwide” terror has gone down. It now appears concentrated in specific countries.

Looking at the Sunni axis, not the Shia, you see that the strategy has changed. The new doctrine put out last year is in effect, and they are working in Islamic regions to destabilize and create their “wilderness” where Al Qaida’s version of sharia becomes the only answer to law and order through force. Their recent successes in Somalia and the frontiers of Pakistan show that it’s an effective doctrine, and that has me worried.

Are we seeing the calm before the storm as they regroup and recruit in the AQ created wildernesses? In the non terror regions are they shifting to purely political, seeking to take advantage of the down economy, unrest over food security, and other factors? That remains to be seen, but it’s something I’ve been speculating on a while.

Clouds in Our Wake

Clouds in Our Wake

clouds-in-our-wakeSometimes you miss the bad weather and sometimes it catches you. Tonight a cold rain is falling that will turn to ice and sleet tomorrow in the early morn. I liked these clouds much better than those overhead tonight, perhaps because we were leaving them behind at the end of a near perfect day.

Bush Deficit vs Obama Deficit

wapoobamabudget1

Bush Deficit vs Obama Deficit

Washington Post has a graphic deficit comparison of the two budgets, and Heritage Foundation highlights some of the differences.

More on this from Karl Rove at the Wall Street Journal:

Last fiscal year, the deficit was $459 billion. For this fiscal year, it was $569 billion when Mr. Obama took office. Under his proposals, another $1.276 trillion will be added to the deficit this year, for a total of $1.845 trillion.

The CBO says deficits will fall for three years to $658 billion, still nearly 50% larger than any past deficit. After that, deficits go back up every year, reaching the trillion-dollar a year mark again in nine years. By 2019, the debt would reach 82.4% of GDP, a level not seen since 1947. With astonishing candor, even Peter Orszag, the president’s budget director conceded these levels of deficits and debt are “unsustainable.”

Update: Just in from Rasmussen :

Two-thirds of U.S. voters (66%) think President Obama is likely to raise taxes on people who [make] less than $250,000 per year. That figure includes 47% who say he is Very Likely to do so. [sic]

Also keep in mind that Obama’s Carbon tax is regressive: it will raise the price of energy for every person in the US, and it will raise the price or decrease the quality of every product in the US. [e.g. for the quality statement – when oil prices went up, Starbuck’s decreased the mil on the plastic cups they use, causing more “crush spills” when people grip them too tight.] Any rise in energy prices will also create rises in food prices since food production, transport, storage, and preparation are energy-intensive operations.

As Stephana points out in coments: we also have to factor in Congress’ actions over the past two years when Democrats were in control, they created the deficit ahead of this coming one. They are also now in process of breaking Obama’s campaign promises for him – yesterday the promised $400.00 tax credit went bye bye almost as quick as Social Security surpluses.

The only video that fits the zeitgeist:

h/t Little Green Footballs Spinoff links and to Lawhawk for the Rasmussen update