Tiny Desk Concerts

Today's Doonesbury at the Washington Post led me to NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series. Nifty! The one that hooked me is this one:

Scott Atran, again

In the aftermath of the November 13, 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, anthropologist Scott Atran has an article in the Guardian discussing how ISIs operates, how and why "the West" fails to understand the true nature of the threat posed by ISIS, and why this misunderstanding is so lethal.

I've written about Atran before; his 2011 interview with Krista Tippett is still timely.

Atran's Guardian piece led me to his comments at the U.N. in April 2015, which contains policy recommendations for Western governments. Those, in turn led me to the website of Peace Direct, an organization I intend to find out more about. A quick read suggests they are on the right track, but then the picture on this page about their work in Pakistan sort of screams "cultural insensitivity"...