Very well-written analysis of the what, why, and hows of terrorism

Steven Den Beste has posted an essay on the Theory and Practice of Terrorism that I highly recommend. It’s reasonably brief and looks at where terrorism fits in the general scheme of warfare, the critical participants, the possible outcomes, the means of conducting terrorism (including non-violent campaigns), and historical examples of these different types. He ends with a look at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is evenhanded and unemotional (which I was glad to see) but does come to the conclusion that no end to this conflict is likely for a long time yet.

An amusing sidebar: In his biographical page, Den Beste discusses the origins of surnames in his ancestral home (The Netherlands). He points out that jokes sometimes backfire: “There are a number of people living in the Netherlands whose surname is Poepjes, which translated into English means ‘little pieces of shit’.”