Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
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May 8th, 2011

Summary: Abu Huthaifa al-Battawi, the accused mastermind of the October 2010 siege at Baghdad’s Our Lady of Salvation church that killed dozens, nearly escaped from prison after wresting a gun from a prison guard and launching an hours-long assault that left 17 people dead, including Brig. Gen. Muaeid Mohammed Saleh, a top Iraqi counterterrorism official. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 8, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that Pakistan was investigating whether Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American arrested over a botched plot to bomb New York’s Times Square, had met with top Pakistani Taliban leaders in South Waziristan prior to his failed bombing attempt.


Nov 3rd, 2010

Summary: The Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida front group, has threatened more attacks on Christians after a siege on a Baghdad Catholic church left 68 people dead. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on November 3, 2009, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Oct 31st, 2010

Summary: At least 58 Iraqi Catholics died and more than 70 were wounded when police stormed a Baghdad church where gunmen were holding dozens of parishioners hostage, threatening to kill them if al-Qaida-prisoners were not released. Since the war began, Iraq has lost half of its 1.5 million Christians. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on October 31, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that Microsoft Network (MSN.com), promoting its new Bing! search engine, featured a demo search of “angry Americans.” It caught my attention, because history has shown that times of economic uncertainty — as we’re currently experiencing while bogged down in two wars in the aftermath of 9/11 — can be a fertile breeding ground for extremist ideologies, as we saw in Germany during the Great Depression following a humiliating defeat in World War I.