Following the Islamist terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine, people are standing in solidarity with the right of satirists to mock Islam, Mohammed and anything else they want. In France and elsewhere. #JesuisCharlie is trending and I’m glad. Now show the cartoons. Click here to read the rest.

Just about the last ditch for people who deny the West is under siege by radical Islam is feeble pleading in the alternative: Jihadis are not attacking us, but if they are we started it. American foreign policy is provocative. Israel is provocative. We travel thousands of miles to drop bombs on them. No wonder they blow us up… not that they do, of course. But if they did, you know… just saying. Click here to read the rest.

It seems odd to be arguing whether Nathan Cirillo’s murder and the assault on Parliament was terrorism without any effort to discuss what terrorism is. Terrorism isn’t just a word for extreme badness. It’s a particular kind of evil, with particular methods and goals. Click here to read the rest.

What causes radicalization? It’s clearly a question we can’t afford to ignore. Click here to read the rest.

So we’re off to Iraq, or back to Iraq, after all. My my. Nothing quite like geopolitics to drive home Philip K. Dick’s dictum “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn’t go away.” Click here to read the rest.

The bad guys are on the move. From Iraq to Libya to Ukraine to Beijing the separate crises are starting to roll into one. Click here to read the rest.

With Israel winding down its incursion into Gaza, we search through the physical and mental rubble for lessons. As usual, an air of unreality permeates the exercise. Click here to read the rest.

Are you enjoying your newfound global tranquility? If so you can thank Barack Obama. At least, that’s what he says. Click here to read the rest.