The war against global terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The war against global terrorism - Essay Example So, no, the war against terrorism can never be won in absolute terms. For instance if religious fanaticism is analyzed, the emotional and spiritual motives can push a person to take lives, even their own. The course book lists beliefs and perceptions (Kegley & Wittkopf 177) that become an excuse for religious radicals to do anything in setting the world straight on the correct path. If they find any government secular or not religious friendly, they can start an open war with them. The problem is that it is not a conventional war to stop or destroy an advancing enemy. It is an ideological war. The terrorists will certainly score great sympathy from common people and regional power brokers, because they are the ones showing them the path of righteousness. Killing the leaders of these terror campaigns create martyrs, and the remaining lot almost worships them as their heroes. This only strengthens their cause. One doesn’t need to study ancient war history to understand this plague. Chapter 7 of the book paints brief history of the twenty first century so far. The World Trade Centre incident, Afghanistan War, Iraq’s invasion, Madrid Bombing (2004), London Bombing (2005), Israel’s bombing in Lebanon (2006) and many other incidents demolishing any hopes for a peaceful century (Kegley & Wittkopf 197). The same paragraph also mentions the 2011 Arab demonstration for democratization as a ray of hope. This is highly debatable. The case of Egypt is enough to understand that terrorism can never be defeated in absolute terms. Despite the Arab Spring and powerful (bloody) protests against dictatorships, Egypt still yearns to see democracy in its true form. One needs to ask this question; have the Egyptian demonstrators been successful in achieving their goal? Toppling a dictatorship was just one part of it, true democracy is their destination? Is Egypt a true democracy today? If only military deals decide the

To what extend can it be argued that blogs encourage active citizens Essay

To what extend can it be argued that blogs encourage active citizens - Essay Example ontain reflections about daily life and produced by individuals with the primary audience being other bloggers that the individual links with on a regular basis. However, the blogs do not have any restriction on access and can therefore available to anyone. Even as a majority of blogs contain personal reflections, blogs that have had profound influence on society due to their wide readership are those that focus on matters of public interest. This essay focuses on the role played by blogs targeting public interests in order to assess the role such platforms play in encouraging active citizens (Herring, Scheidt, Wright and Bonus, 2005). The ability of blogs to attract public interest and therefore influence the way people interact and can be seen from the popularity gained by Instapundit.com written by Glenn Reynolds. The blogger a law lecturer at the University of Tennessee, had by March 2005 reached the hundred-millionth page hit plus a further 200,000 more hits on a daily basis. Given that Reynolds’ blog is dedicated to the commentary of current public affairs, it indicates the attraction of citizens to such blogs as a platform for them to contribute in what is going on around them. This further indicates the ability of blogs to generate popularity by attracting readership in most cases through their sharp, partisan commentary on current public affairs (Griffiths 2004). Further, a single blog has the ability to introduce readers into new debates and topic discussions through hyperlinks that lead readers to other topics that they might find interesting. Although there are those with the view that specific blogs attract people with similar views to engage in discussion and that those with opposing sentiments are silenced (Cohen 2006), the hyperlink to others provides a means through which diverse views on matters of current affairs can be debated. Bloggers in most cases comment on what others are saying by linking their views with those who hold different