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Show Views&Opinion Monday, April 6, 2009 Page 13 'Global war on terror' dropped from war vocab S ecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently confirmed that the Obama administration has dropped the phrase "global war on terror." She didn't say why. "I think that speaks for itself. Obviously," was her elaboration. That raised a few obvious questions: Does the new administration believe the fight against al-Qaida and other extreme Islamist groups doesn't amount to war? Is the threat to the U.S. homeland less, in President Obama's estimation, than that perceived by President George W. Bush? And does the United States still expect its NATO military allies to join in this newly unnamed, speaksfor-itself endeavor? A partial answer came this week in congressional testimony by Gen. David Petraeus and Michelle Flournoy, undersecretary nournoy, unaersecreiary of defense for policy, who described a serious and continuing menace from terrorist networks. "In the AfghanistanPakistan border region you have continued safe haven for al-Qaida and other extremists, who we know are actively plotting against American interests, American allies and the American homeland. So this is a matter of vital national interest," said Flournoy. Said Gen. Petraeus: "All of (the terrorist groups) together represent a threat. ... And, in certain cases, a truly global extremist threat." But it was Obama himself who most compellingly stated the administration's position, and in the best of locales - in front of a European audience this week in Strasbourg, France. "I think it's important for Europe to understand that even though I'm i m now now president president and ana George Bush is no longer president, al-Qaida is still a threat," he said. "It is going to be a very difficult challenge." The president noted that some argue that if the United States changed policies on the' Israeli-Palestinian conflict or "were more respectful towards the Muslim world, suddenly these organizations would stop threatening us." He concluded: "That's just not the case." "We believe that we cannot just win militarily," said Obama, citing the new development and diplomatic efforts he has launched in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "But there will be a military component to it, and Europe should not simply expect the United States to shoulder that burden alone." George W. Bush might have spoken those words, but Obama, in contrast to how his predecessor predecessor might migni have iid Cheap: New companies not ad-based [•continued from page 12 to note that the growth in the pay-perview video model - DVDs, Home Box Office, premium cable channels, etc. - has far exceeded the growth in traditional, advertiser-supported networks in the last several years." It is also interesting to note that Varian not only doesn't do things for free, he has two employers. If anything, there should be less advertising per product than there was 25 years ago, when companies had to use a wide hose to sloppily spray messages on billboards, the three broadcast TV networks, bus benches and any other public arena that would sell space. But today, the Internet has gotten so good at targeting that I never see an ad for Depends but I know exactly when Joshua Cooper Ramo's book, "The Age of the Unthinkable," is coming out. This is largely because Josh keeps sending me e-mails, but that only proves how effective the Internet is. Every bill I get now seems like a mistake. Why can't my burger bun just have an ad for Gold's Gym grill-marked into it? Can my medical marijuana dime bag display a drawing of Cheetos? Do I really need to pay my mortgage, or can I just paint an ad for Ramo's book on my roof so Google Maps sees it? According to Joshua Gans, an economist at Melbourne Business School in Australia, whom I could call by using free international Internet phone service, there's a social norm against repugnant transactions, such as paying for a kidney. In the last few years, too many transactions have become repugnant. "And if you need to make money to pay for the content ... and you can't get the consumers to pay, what do you do? Sell a related product, advertising," Gans told me. The good news is that at this point, I'm pretty sure the Los Angeles' Times' sales staff will sell space on their kidneys. Eric Hirshberg, president and chief creative officer of the advertising agency Deutsch LA, told me that this age of advertising will not last. "There will undoubtedly be a thinning of the herd of the number of online businesses based solely on advertising revenue," he said. "There can only be so many ESPNs and Huffington Posts. And if history is any guide, the ones that remain will eventually be owned by three different companies." Hirshberg/ to my annoyance, did not tell me which three companies. We'll still need some mass-audience outlets, Hirshberg says. While he can sell the DirecTV NFL "SuperFan" package very surgically with a few TV ads during games or Web buys on football sites, not all products work that way. "The Web is a massive collection of niche audiences. Which is not the same as a mass audience. So if you're Coke or Wal-Mart, there aren't many places that your whole audience gathers together online. Because WalMart's audience is carbon-based life forms," he said. So we should enjoy this age of adsupported free stuff while we can. Because soon we're either all going to have to contribute to this giant kibbutz of writing encyclopedia entries, reporting news, shooting videos, writing software, recording podcasts, making amateur porn - or we're going to have to get over our repugnance and start paying for stuff. My guess? Let's put it this way: I'm working on my abs and my tan. This column was written by Joe! Stein, columnist for the Los Angeles Times. HEiliMBIiR DELAWARE SNOW AND SKI PRESENTS BENEFITING THE "MALI RISING FOUNDATION" T H U R S D A Y A P R I L 9 t h TSC BALLROOM, UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY DOORS OPEN @ 6PM / / SHOW STARTS @ 7PM $8 in advance / / $12 Day of Show www.ticketweb.com 81 .866.468.7621 sj^TTruTAp]^ PRODUCED BY PAKT HOUSE PRODUCTIONS WWW.iALIItSIMOfOOMDATION.OII WWW.IEMEH1EIDELAWAIE.COM WWW.TIGRETWE0.COM SERVICE ^TICKETBH>M A Tickets available at the TSC been received, was greeted with applause by his European audience. So the threat is "a matter of vital national interest/' it is "global," and it requires a military response, with NATO's participation. It seems the "global war on terrorism" will continue - only without the name. There is some logic to that: Obama is acutely aware of the damage done by enemy and the camthe Bush administration paign against it in ways to American prestige in that convey its urgency Europe and throughout to both Americans and the Muslim world, and foreign audiences - and he has spoken much this that unite rather than week of a fresh start. As polarize. In that respect, many have pointed out, Obama made a good the old term was awk- start in Strasbourg. ward - "terror" describes a means of war, not an This editorial was pubenemy. The challenge lished in Saturday's Washington Post. for the new administration is to describe that Happy Graduation! Free Apple Care $30offaniTouch With the purchase ofanewMacBook usu UtahStateUniversity BOOK STORE |