It is now hard not to think of it this way, but Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (the underpants bomber) initiated, it seems, a distinct cycle of terrorism that finds Taimour Abdulwahab al Abdaly (Stockholm's shopping season bomber) as its present monster. In the middle of the movement is Mohamed Osman Mohamud (Portland's Christmas tree-lighting bomber). These terrorists have in common a taste for holiday mayhem and yet a total lack of talent in the deadly and very complicated business of international terror.

A bomber who apparently killed himself in central Stockholm on Saturday was probably on his way to a more crowded location, but his bomb went off prematurely, Swedish authorities said Monday.