Positivism stands or falls with the principle of scientism, that is that the meaning of knowledge is defined by what the sciences do and can thus be adequately explicated through the methodological analysis of scientific procedures.

Partisans fight on familiar territory with professed political objectives to conquer power. This is what distinguishes them from terrorists

Historically, terrorism falls in a category different from crimes that concern a criminal court judge.

Some of those drawn into the holy war had been secular nationalists only a few years before. If one looks at the biographies of these people, remarkable continuities are revealed.

Perhaps at a later point important developments will be traced back to September 11. But for now we do not know which of the many scenarios will actually hold in the future.

The misery in war-torn Afghanistan is reminiscent of images from the Thirty Years' War.

Global terrorism is extreme both in its lack of realistic goals and in its cynical exploitation of the vulnerability of complex systems.