Conspiracy theories in the Age of Snowden and Wikileaks
Last week the pro-Russian hactivist group, CyberBerkut, released footage that they claimed to have lifted from the laptop of one of US Senator John McCain’s staffers. The video purported to show a staged Islamic State execution.
The scene had clearly been modeled on James Foley’s execution, with a black-clad ‘jihadi’ holding a knife to the throat of a kneeling ‘prisoner’ dressed in an orange jumpsuit. The footage is shot from above the set, so one can see the light and sound people applying their trade in front of a green screen.
Jihadi Jake: The product of a toxic Right and an impotent Left
It’s somewhat sobering to read Jake Bilardi’s final blog post—less manifesto, in parts, more expository essay—and find oneself agreeing with many of his views and opinions on the state of the world. He was revolted with the Israel–Palestine conflict, which he—echoing the title of Max Blumenthal’s latest book, Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel—characterises as ‘the ultimate David and Goliath story, where the world was wanting so desperately to turn the victim into the oppressor and the oppressor into the victim, with much success’.
Triple threat: Hezbollah versus Israel and the Islamic State
Hezbollah is an organisation divided as it fights two “existential threats”. Is this all just rhetoric? Freelance journalist Tim Robertson reports.
‘The end of the Middle East’: with IS closing in, Jordan on the brink
Jordan shares land borders with Syria and Iraq and is struggling to deal with the war. But things might get even worse if the Islamic State decides to try to expand its caliphate, writes freelance journalist Tim Robertson.