INTERNATIONAL: “C.I.A. Chief Says Qaeda Is Extending Its Reach,” by Mark Mazzetti, New York Times, 14 November 2008.

Detailing the slow but steady shifting of capacity southward into Africa.

Hayden:

He drew a contrast between what he described as growing Islamic radicalism in places like Somalia and what he said had been the ‘strategic defeat’ of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia—the network’s affiliate group in Iraq.

Yes, for now, the center of gravity has sucked back into NW Pakistan, but as I have long predicted, there’s just too many interested local great powers who will work to squash that regional problem over time, making Africa the more inviting target for long-term expansion.

The resistance will, as always, correspond in its geographic expressions with globalization’s advance and deep embrace of regions.