Pakistán no tiene esperanza, de Walter Laqueur en La Vanguardia

In 1824, at the age of 81, Thomas Jefferson wrote to his friend William Ludlow about the evident "progress of society." He noted that one could see in America itself a "march of civilization" observable elsewhere - that is, "the progress of man from the infancy of creation to the present day."

"We Danes feel like we have been placed in a scene in the wrong movie," Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in the German magazine Spiegel on Monday, describing the disorienting effect of seeing the turmoil touched off throughout the Muslim world by a few cartoons printed in Denmark. [[While Europe Slept]]

As the new century began, an epidemic of terrorism spread panic around the globe. In world capitals, leaders fortified their security and curtailed public appearances. Ordinary citizens felt unsafe walking the streets of major cities, while the terrorists themselves were like phantoms—everywhere and nowhere at the same time, seemingly able to strike at will. Terrorism became the preoccupation of police and politicians, bankers and business leaders.

Terrorism has become over a number of years the topic of ceaseless comment, debate, controversy, and search for roots and motives, and it figures on top of the national and international agenda. It is also at present one of the most highly emotionally charged topics of public debate, though quite why this should be the case is not entirely clear, because the overwhelming majority of participants do not sympathize with terrorism.