So, let's say that who won wasn't something you had a stake in, but you could place a bet. What odds would you put on al-Q'aeda and what odds would you put on the US?
Because that's the game, a giant Go board that is the world. For those who haven't played Go, in Go if you surround pieces they turn to your colour. It's a game of stunning reversals, where territory assumed safe can suddenly switch sides. Unlike chess, computers suck at Go, but like chess a good player can give a bad player a lot of extra pieces and still win.
The US has a lot more pieces than al-Q'aeda. Aircraft carriers, nuclear missiles, piles of money and excellent troops. The American economy thrums with money and activity, the US army uses the most sophisticated technology in the world and the US has more power than any empire in hundreds of years
Against this juggernaut how can al-Q'aeda succeed?
A better question might be how can they fail?
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