Analysis

4.25pm 22nd July: PeterBeaumont: foreign affairs editor at the Observer, says a jihadist group is most likely to be behind the blast:

It has been known for some time that al-Qaida core and other related "franchises" - including in the most active in Yemen – have been attempting to develop operations. Which leads to a second question: why Norway?...

The answer to that is three fold. In then first instance, with the increased levels of security and surveillance in the UK and the US as well as other European capitals, Norway might have been seen as a softer target despite the recent breaking up of an al-Qaida cell in Norway.

A more detailed explanation of the problems that Norway has had with Al Qaeda were supplied a year ago by the Atlantic magazine in an article by Thomas Hegghammer, a senior fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment in Oslo, and Dominic Tierney.

That piece followed the arrest of three men in Norway and Germany for allegedly plotting a terrorist attack involving peroxide explosives. All of those arrested were were Muslim immigrants to Norway.

The first explanation," wrote Hegghammer and Tierney, "is Afghanistan. Norway has been part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan from its foundation in late 2001.... In late 2007, for example, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida's
second-in-command, said that the group had previously threatened Norway because it "participated in the war against the Muslims...

A second contributory factor for why Norway may have been eyed in the past for potential jihadi terrorist attack is the fact that in 2006, a Norwegian newspaper reprinted a series of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad which prompted threats against the country. A third potential explanation is the recent decision last week by a Norwegian prosecutor filed terror charges against an Iraqi-born cleric for threatening Norwegian politicians with death if he's deported from the Nordic country. The indictment centered on statements that Mullah Krekar - the founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam - made to various media, including American network NBC.

come 23rd July:

The most tempting and immediate conclusion was that it would be a jihadist group, as the style of the Oslo attack bore strong similarities to other earlier attacks in Europe and elsewhere.

But Norwegian police said that the individual believed responsible for the shooting in Utøya, a 32-year-old Norwegian man, was also spotted in Olso before the bombing there.

Both written by the same cunt

December 2008 marked a significant point in the history of the Guardian when the paper moved to a brand new building in King's Cross after 32 years in its Farringdon headquarters.

Which is, presumably, the ideal vantage point from which to view the global terror thingy.

Perhaps peter should have consulted his guardian colleague, jeff winter:

"In a way, it is human nature to want to construct a narrative to resolve anxieties, to be drawn to mystery or the perception of it."

or his freelance colleague, Jamie Bartlett*:

...conspiracy theories are kneejerk, lazy cynicism. We need to limit their corrosive and destructive impact. The government lacks the credibility to do so. It falls on the rest of us to act.

Well done, members of the 24 hour information community!

*Jamie Bartlett is a researcher at Demos! - specialising in Islam!! - and identity!!!