flwyd | Entries tagged with bbc

Major Reid Sawyer is a leading American authority on Al Qaeda. He is based at the United States Military Academy at West Point and wrote the textbook on counter terrorism methods. On the eve of a major new World Service series about Al Qaeda, Owen Bennett-Jones talks to Major Sawyer about who is winning the war on terror. And gets some surprising answers.

Take a break from absorbing news about the financial crisis and listen to the 26 minute interview or subscribe to the podcast.

This is the most frank analysis of Al Qaeda I've heard. Sawyer talks about how the U.S. is doing well and poorly, how Al Qaeda is doing well and poorly. He also talks about non-military approaches that are important. It's far more informative than the typical five minute propaganda interview one often sees with active military figures on American TV. Hooray for nondogmatic media; hooray for the BBC.

Listening to the BBC via Colorado Public Radio tonight, I heard an interview with the author of The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't.

I've known for a long time that the BBC is a dependable source of proper English, polite but persistent interviewers, quality investigative reporting, and cricket scores like "one hundred and eighty-seven not out." But I never expected to hear the word "asshole" several times in five minutes on the Beeb.

It's not one of the Carlin seven, but anybody who used the word on national TV in the U.S. would be in hot water. I credit Sutton with the cleverness of using "asshole" in the title of the book, thereby creating a context in which it can be used non-obscenely. They can't very well censor the title of the book; nobody would know what they were talking about.

I suppose it's similar to encoding illegal programs as prime numbers which can be legally discussed on the Internet.

From the Mind of Trevor Stone

… blogging like it's the mid-naughties

Entries tagged with bbc

Frank Army Analysis of Al Qaeda

One Word Down, Seven Still To Go

Profile

Active Entries

Page Summary

Expand Cut Tags

Subscribe