It’s late, I know, but I couldn’t let Mustafa Abu al-Yazid’s interview with al-Jazeera go uncommented. I found it absolutely fascinating. My hat is off to Ahmad Zaydan for finding Mustafa and asking him excellent questions. International media focused on the A-bomb remark, but this was neither a very significant or surprising part of the [...]
Archive for the ‘Arab media’ Category
Abu al-Yazid Mending Fences with Hamas
Posted: 10th July 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in Arab media, Hamas, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, propaganda6
Jihadi reactions to Obama
Posted: 4th June 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in Arab media, Dreams, Egypt, Jihadi media, propaganda, Saudi Arabia, tactics, UncategorizedWe have heard Bin Ladin and Zawahiri’s comments, and Marc Lynch and others will tell us how the Arab mainstream reacted. But what are the grassroot jihadis saying about Obama’s Mideast tour in general and his Cairo speech in particular? Let me begin by lowering your expectations. For a start, we should not expect to [...]
Falluja Forum contributor Abu al-Ghadiyah recently posted an article titled “Transformations of ‘Usbat al-Ansar” that the Lebanese paper al-Akhbar published in March. The article was part of a larger series of reports that journalist Hasan ‘Aliq wrote regarding the political and security climate in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp Ain al-Hilweh. He argues that the [...]
One might suppose that the mood is celebratory on the Arab Jihadi forums after Zaidi chucked his shoes at President Bush. However, a lot of posters are unhappy with reports that Zaidi is a communist. So much for solidarity. Document (Arabic): 12-16-08-faloja-shoe-thrower-is-dismissed-as-communist Document (Arabic): 12-16-08-faloja-another-post-dismissing-shoe-thrower-as-communist
More On Sayyid Imam’s Effectiveness
Posted: 11th December 2008 by Will McCants in Arab media, Egypt, Uncategorized, ZawahiriTags: Sayyid Imam, Zawahiri
Monika Maslikowski has a smart take on Sayyid Imam’s communication strategy vs. that of Zawahiri (it’s part of a larger assessment of the latter’s stumbles as a communicator this year). She seconds my argument that Imam’s personal attacks on Zawahiri are effective because “Zawahiri’s success as a leader is dependent on whether or not he [...]
Response To Rob At The Shack
Posted: 5th December 2008 by Will McCants in AQ Leadership, Arab media, Egypt, Uncategorized, ZawahiriTags: Sayyid Imam, Zawahiri
We’re probably now at the point of diminishing returns, but the issue of Jihadi revisions is important enough to work through the particulars until it’s clear what’s fact, what’s unproven, and what’s merely a matter of taste. It’s important not just for assessing the impact of Sayyid Imam’s work but for understanding how ideological challenges [...]
Assessing The Impact Of Jihadi Revisionists
Posted: 3rd December 2008 by Will McCants in Arab media, Egypt, Uncategorized, ZawahiriTags: Sayyid Imam, Zawahiri
Rob at Media Shack has posted a summary of a discussion on al-`Arabiyya’s “Death Industry.” Of interest to him (and me) is Montasir Zayat’s assessment of Sayyid Imam’s latest book (Zayat only read the first one and a half chapters). Here’s Rob’s take: In Zayat’s view, what’s being printed now in Al-Masri Al-Youm is a [...]
New Booklets on Media, Jihad
Posted: 29th July 2008 by Will McCants in Arab media, IndoctrinationTags: Arab media, Jihadism
Abu al-Harith al-Ansari, a popular Jihadi author, has written an introductory booklet to Jihadism that explains the ideology and motivations of its adherents. Topics covered include: “Why we fight,” “Who we fight,” “How we fight,” and “Who we fight first.” Another interesting booklet that was posted recently is by Abu Ta Ha al-Miqdad, an Ekhlaas [...]