First of all, you're assuming the Boston bombs are a foreign attack.
Not really, but how foreign does foreign need to be. What if we have some "rebels" here. They may be US but they get money and encouragement from somewhere else. Generally if it was an inside job they would have found the culprits by now and they would already be pointing at the target.
Meanwhile someone's sending ricin letters (tainted letters - number one way to fail to kill a politician since anthrax). Since tainted letters aren't likely to reach their targets they can be safely used to scare or elicit sympathy.
And also meanwhile, someone cuts some fiber in California which cripples the local 911 and then shoots some electrical substation. That's an attack of increasing sophistication, but is it related and was it just a probe?
It's that last class of attacks that have the most potential to cause trouble. Take out the electricity in a few large areas for long enough (and taking out substations is a great way to do that because replacement transformers of that size are thin on the ground and lead times are long). Taking a few pot shots at a refinery or two would cause real pain because there are already too few refineries. $10 gas, anyone?
I don't really think it would be "jihadis" as such but if there is organization or "cross-pollination" between such attacks it can only grow worse as economic conditions deteriorate and more people feel excluded from the American dream. If you have no stake in society, if you have nothing to gain from staying in the system, then the system isn't worth protecting.
If there is a sustained uptick in this sort of fighting (and it could be supported from abroad but the US has so many enemies it's really hard to say who's most likely to be behind a thing like this or that it would only be one group), then you could see a piling on and in places already rife with inter-group tension you could see all out balkanization. This is what the start of all the elite's fears looks like.
Whoever is responsible, the result is likely to be the same - crack down and for our own goods.
Also, I don't think it's impossible to feel compassion for both the victims in Boston and the victims in Baghdad.
It's not, but when you see it over and over and over again it's just not so impactful.
I know it's been a while since we discussed the events in Baghdad but years ago we had lots to say about it - unfortunately it's just become routine there and there's really nothing new to say.
For me it's become routine to see these images and I just can't fool myself into thinking I'm seeing something new just because it's in a different place.
The fact is something has to be done because the drone strikes alone are not enough to put an end to them - although it seems it has kept them from greater effectiveness.
I scatter garlic around my house to keep the elephants away. People tell me there are no elephants for miles and miles, and this pleases me because I know it is working.
It's a very ugly situation, but if I had to pick I'd rather the kids in Northern Pakistan die.
I'd make it one for one - at least that way it would be fair - and it would probably stop sooner.
