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As a Baltimore IMC editorial collective member I know it is a challenge to solicit feature writings by people in the Baltimore community. So I appreciate the fact that Dr. Ross took the time to share his thoughts via Baltimore Indymedia. That said, I cringed a bit upon reading the feature piece by Jeffrey Ian Ross, “London Calling Again.”
http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/10636/index.php

In general, I found piece a bit flat. Granted, it was more “fair and balanced” than Fox so-called “News,” but I would expect more from a fellow Ph.D., particularly one who devotes his profession to the subject matter on which he wrote.

In his opening, Ross states, “The recent London bombings reminds us that the West must become increasingly diligent in responding to the brazen nature of the perpetrators.” I, on the other hand, am reminded that chickens come home to roost. I’m also reminded of Dr. Chalmers Johnson’s book, “Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire.”
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blowback_CJohnson/Blowback_CJohnson.html

I’m also reminded of comments by London Mayor Ken Livingtone on July 20, 2005. “A lot of young people see the double standards, they see what happens in Guantanamo Bay, and they think there isn’t a just foreign policy.” “You’ve just had 80 years of Western intervention into predominantly Arab lands because of a Western need for oil. We’ve propped up unsavory governments, we’ve overthrown ones we didn’t consider sympathetic.” And the chickens are coming home to roost.

People might find Mayor Livingstone’s public survey on Iraq of interest:
http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/iraq-conflict/poll.jsp

Dr. Ross seems too intent or fascinated with taking steps to “harden” society, albeit he urges doing so without compromising too many civil liberties. If Ross’s analysis about England’s extensive experience with terrorism is correct, it merely provides further evidence that “hardening” society against terrorist attacks is a fairly fruitless long-term strategy.

However, in characterizing the London attacks as “irrational,” Ross doesn’t seem to acknowledge the potential for an alternative strategy based on countering the exploitative foreign policies alluded to by Livingstone. Ross states in his opening, “No matter how irrational their acts may be, how specious their logic as they attempt to link civilian deaths with military actions thousands of miles away, we must stop them before they lash out again.”

“Irrational?” These recent bombings coincide with the supposed "rational" logic of “the West.” The World War II bombings of Dresden and Tokyo, which targeted civilians, were based on the calculated “logic” that they would break the civilian morale. Rather than being "irrational," it appears that the same logic is being applied in the bombings in Madrid and London. That is, these recent bombings seem to be calculated attempts to break civilian support for the foreign policies of the targeted countries.

I could go on, but I’ll close by repeating two points. I appreciate Dr. Ross taking the time to engage the Indymedia community, and hope he will continue to do so. That said, I personally didn’t find his article to be very compelling.