After the Serial Blasts

The recent surge of terrorist attacks in Southeast Asia, like in Indonesia and Bangladesh, is putting pressure on politicians and local authorities to crack down on terrorism. Unlike the US, however, poor countries with internal political divisions are having a harder time fighting battles in the war on terrorism. An internal government feud in Bangladesh erupted after a series of bombs exploded in four movie theaters on Saturday. Several bombings of public places have occurred in the last 20 months. Opposition parties accuse one of the four coalition-parties in government of participation in the crimes, while the alliance blames the opposition for defamation at national and international levels. This editorial from a Bangladesh's Daily Star calls for a reevaluation of the government’s priorities to focus on terrorism and the country’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies, which have not had much success in preventing and investigating terrorist attacks. – YaleGlobal