A language sea change?

According to documents recently published by the National Counter-Terrorism Center, a US agency responsible for coordinating the government response to terrorism, officials are now being asked to stop using terminology that could "unintentionally legitimate terrorism," and reorient their vocabulary away from language that might frame radicals in a sympathetic light. This entails ceasing to describe radical cells as either Islamic or Muslim, and also rejecting the term "Islamist," which experts argue is confusing to the general public. Instead of using words such as jihad or mujahedin, which "have positive connotations for Muslims," the report recommends replacing these terms with "'death cult,' ‘cult-like,' ‘sectarian cult,' and ‘violent cultists'" as more accurate indicators of "the ideology and methodology of al-Qaida and other terrorist groups."Keep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle.

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Grounding the report in an awareness of the wider connotations of these terms for Muslims, experts advised that officials must be more "careful and judicious" in "navigating the rocks and shoals of terminology to avoid unnecessarily alienating a large segment of the Muslim community." To this end, the main focus of this initiative is to divorce al-Qaida and other radical cells from control of their own language, or in other words, to distance them from language steeped heavily in historical and religious import, which US officials claim has the effect of legitimating their goals.

toD analysis: While the effort to jettison sweeping terms like "Islamic" or "jihad" in official discourse is definitely one of the more enlightened suggestions made by a government agency recently, what is most striking about this project is its attitude towards its stated target audience, the international Muslim community. In choosing to eliminate words that bear religious and cultural significance to Muslims, the report is clearly attempting to distinguish between extremist groups and the Islamic community at large, an effort that has largely been ignored until now. However, by recasting radical groups in the Manichean framework that is at work now, the report ultimately remains faithful to the same Cold War logic of "us-versus-them" that permits alienation to ferment in the first place. In order to truly attend to the question of the alienation of Muslim communities, the US government must address this issue, and disrupt the cyclical thinking that has structured foreign policy.

50 rebels killed in Burundi

According to the Burundian national army, 50 guerillas were killed this week in clashes with the army, bringing the number of total casualties this year to 103. The fighting occurred in Kabezi, a Forces for National Liberation (FLN) stronghold just south of the capital of Bujumbura. After decades of civil war between the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, the Hutu FLN is considered to be the remaining source of instability in Burundi. Both the government and the rebels blamed the other party with instigating the attacks.

Violence spreads in Lebanon

Violence has erupted in Beirut as Hizbollah supporters have taken to the streets to protest a government decision to remove a private Hizbollah phone network that spans all of Lebanon. According to reports, after the government accused Hizbollah of spying on the country's only airport - shutting down the network in response - hundreds of masked protestors set up barricades around the facility in protest. As of Thursday, fighting has begun to spread beyond Beirut, with clashes occurring between Shia and Sunni groups in eastern Lebanon's Bekka valley. The violence is the latest incarnation of a standing rift between the US-backed Sunni government and the Shia group Hizbollah.

Post-election situation worsens in Zimbabwe

Following a contentious election and a recent media crackdown Zimbabwe, the head of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has declared that the country is too unstable to hold a run-off election, and that any new elections will be postponed by at least a year. In recent days, violence between supporters of Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC party has escalated, resulting in the deaths of 11 MDC activists on Wednesday and waves of violence spreading throughout the country. Since the election, the ruling party has mounted a national campaign to intimidate and threaten opposition supporters. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has asked the UN to intervene, calling for an election monitored by international observers.

Former Guantánamo inmate turns suicide bomber

According to U.S. officials, a former Guantánamo Bay detainee was responsible for a suicide bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul last month. A military spokesman announced Wednesday that the man was a Kuwaiti national who spent three years in the prison before his release in 2005. It is speculated that he traveled through Syria en route to Iraq, where he participated in a string of deadly attacks that plagued Mosul. In light of the heightening tensions between Iran and the US over the issue of security in Iraq, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has urged talks between the two parties.

Burma agrees to international aid

In the aftermath of the recent cyclone in Burma, which has paralysed the capital of Yangon and left a death toll of 22,000 and rising, international attention has been focused on the country's junta, one of the most secretive and repressive in the world. For the first time over the course of his rule, General Than Shwe has opened Burma to international aid, permitting organisations from all over the world to offer help and relief work. Burma has agreed to engage in talks with the UN, marking the first sign of movement away from the country's insular international position. Food supplies have already begun to arrive.