The long awaited sixth issue of Inspire Magazine, an Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) production, was released on hardline websites last night. This is the first issue released since Osama bin Laden was killed over two months ago. What took so long, you ask? Well, they explain the delay:
“Things have been quite hectic over here. The country is falling apart and our brothers are busy picking up the pieces.”
“Things have been quite hectic over here. The country is falling apart and our brothers are busy picking up the pieces.”
Hmmmm, sounds like a roundabout way of saying drone attacks.
All in all, this issue is the same as the previous ones. It includes essays/speeches written by Al Qaeda leaders, instructions on how to use an AK-47 and build an explosive (this time acetone peroxide) and encourages Westerners to join the jihadi movement.
Just like in previous issues, the sixth edition of Inspire uses humor to gain readership and encourage engagement among its readers. Inspire has truly become a gamified space - in other words game-like attributes are used in this clearly non-game environment to make light of the situations discussed in the magazine and engage with readers who may otherwise not be interested. For more information on how Al Qaeda uses online game theory to recruit the masses, see the article that Jarret Brachman and I wrote in Foreign Policy: The World of Holy Warcraft.
Below are a few excerpts from Inspire #6 using humor or making light of the situations they are discussing:
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