Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctor who is al-Qaeda’s number 2, has released a tape where he blasts President-elect Barack Obama as a “house slave” whose policies will be no different than George W.Bush’s. This may signal either an al-Qaeda call rallying dormant troops or real worry that Obama’s appeal may dry up al-Qaeda’s source of recruitment among young, disenfranchised Muslims. Pepe Escobar argues that Obama has a unique opportunity – in ideological terms – to render al-Qaeda totally irrelevant.