AQIM works for the DRS. Really?

The tragic incident that is taking place in In Amenas raised a number of reactions all around the world. The international press and experts seem to have agreed to stress on a specific point: the rudeness of Algeria’s special forces intervention. I watched several programs on many TV channels and almost all the “expert” guests kept repeating that Algeria is not a democracy and its Russia-trained forces do not care about the hostages’ safety. At the end I was left with a feeling that there was an international jury declaring Algeria guilty of killing the hostages. The fact there were hostage-takers kind of disappeared from the discussions.

Conspiracy theories and the Algerian mind

Conspiracy thinking probably exists in every society, however it seems to be the predominant mode of reasoning in the Arabo-Muslim world. By predominant, I mean that it pervades all classes of these societies and constitutes a ubiquitous genre of narratives (or counter-narratives) encountered in journalistic analyses, popular culture, gossip, political discourse…etc. This is different from the US for example, where conspiracy theories are also popular but not in the same disproportionate fashion nor with the same predilection. The psychodynamic and cultural determinants which underlie this phemenon might be different or influenced by different factors in these two cases. It would therefore be interesting to attempt to understand the correlations between conspiracy-modes of thinking and the factors which promote and eventually validate them. All conspiracy theories are centered around