Posts Tagged terrorism

A War Between Two Worlds

A War Between Two Worlds is republished with permission of Stratfor.”

By George Friedman

The murders of cartoonists who made fun of Islam and of Jews shopping for their Sabbath meals by Islamists in Paris last week have galvanized the world. A galvanized world is always dangerous. Galvanized people can do careless things. It is in the extreme and emotion-laden moments that distance and coolness are most required. I am tempted to howl in rage. It is not my place to do so. My job is to try to dissect the event, place it in context and try to understand what has happened and why. From that, after the rage cools, plans for action can be made. Rage has its place, but actions must be taken with discipline and thought.

I have found that in thinking about things geopolitically, I can cool my own rage and find, if not meaning, at least explanation for events such as these. As it happens, my new book will be published on Jan. 27. Titled Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe, it is about the unfolding failure of the great European experiment, the European Union, and the resurgence of European nationalism. It discusses the re-emergingborderlands and flashpoints of Europe and raises the possibility that Europe’s attempt to abolish conflict will fail. I mention this book because one chapter is on the Mediterranean borderland and the very old conflict between Islam and Christianity. Obviously this is a matter I have given some thought to, and I will draw on Flashpoints to begin making sense of the murderers and murdered, when I think of things in this way. Read the rest of this entry »

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Morten Storm: More Paris Style Attacks Likely

From Fox News:

Morten Storm, who, as an informant for Denmark’s national intelligence agency Security and Intelligence Service (PET), had first-hand dealings with Anwar Al-Awlaki while the U.S.-born cleric was head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said western countries must  protect themselves by canceling the citizenships of homegrown radicals who travel to the Middle East to fight or train. Once radicalized, homegrown jihadists can easily blend into society until given the signal to strike, he said.

“Deception is their warfare,” Storm said on a conference call facilitated by the New York-based terrorism research group Clarion Project. “One of the things that these groups believe in is that you are allowed to trick someone into believing that you stand for something else when you really have other agendas. They will act as normal members of western society.”

 

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Obama Administration: Our Job Is To Promote Islam

From Breitbart.com:

On Thursday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest announced that the Obama administration would prioritize fighting Islamophobia in the aftermath of the terrorist attack onCharlie Hebdo in France. Never mind that most Westerners aren’t Islamophobic, but rather GettingShotInTheFaceForExpressingMyOpinion-Phobic.

 

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Editor of The Onion on the Attacks in Paris

From MSNBC:

They cannot kill everyone who disagrees with them. There are not enough bullets in the world for that. The most responsible thing we can do is be aware that the most likely threat to freedom will now come from within. We cannot, should not, police our own thoughts – or the thoughts of our fellow citizens. Because the First Amendment does not just protect our free speech; it protects all expression, including religion.

 

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Australians Have the Right to Self Defense in Name Only

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

Legally, Australians have a right to self-defence.

What we don’t have is the practical ability to exercise that right. Owning any object for the purpose of self-defence, lethal or non-lethal, is a criminal offence. Those trapped within the Lindt cafe were left helpless, as carrying items for self-defence is not allowed under State law. What’s worse, the offender possibly knew it.

Prohibited self-defence items include pepper sprays, mace, clubs and personal Tasers. In some states, carrying a pocket-knife is illegal and even wearing a bullet-proof vest is banned.

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After Hostage Incident Australia Senator Says It’s a “Nation of Victims”

From Australia Broadcasting Company:

“What happened in that cafe would have been most unlikely to have occurred in Florida, Texas, or Vermont, or Alaska in America, or perhaps even Switzerland as well,” Senator Leyonhjelm told the ABC’s AM program.

“That nutcase who held them all hostage wouldn’t have known they were armed and bad guys don’t like to be shot back at,” Senator Leyonhjelm said.

 

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U.S. Teacher Murdered in United Arab Emirates

From USA Today:

An American kindergarten teacher was fatally stabbed in a public restroom at a shopping mall in Abu Dhabi by a suspect wearing a black robe and full-face veil, police said.

The attack on Reem Island in the United Arab Emirates on Monday came a little more than a month after the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi warned Americans of an online posting that encouraged attacks against teachers at American and other international schools in the Middle East. There’s no evidence the mall attack was related to the threat.

 

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U.S. Born al-Qaeda Member Killed in Pakistan

From CNN:

Pakistan’s army said it killed an al Qaeda operative who grew up in the United States and was on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists.

Shukrijumah, a senior commander, is thought to have served as one of the leaders of al Qaeda’s external operations program, according to the FBI, hatching plots to attack the West.

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Israelis Stocking Up On Weapons

From JPost.com:

A few meters away, eating shwarma on a bench under a clear sky, two women in their 20s said they planned on arming themselves soon.

“The attacks are happening everywhere, and I want to be able to protect myself,” said Nofar, who requested that her last name not be published.

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Cpl. Nathan Cirillo

From ABC News:

The Canadian parliament observed a moment of silence today for Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, 24, the solider who was slain by a gunman in Ottawa on Wednesday while he was guarding the National War Memorial.

Those who knew Cirillo said the father and reservist was a dog lover. And today, at the Cirillo family home in Hamilton, Ontario, a heartbreaking scene unfolded as two dogs peered under a gate, resting their heads near a tribute of flowers and flags as if to mourn the soldier.

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Islamic State Beheads Citizens of Syrian Border Town Kobane

From The Daily Mail:

According to those who escaped, the jihadis’ savagery is more hideous than anyone feared.

Headless corpses litter the streets of the besieged Syrian border town, they say, and some of the mainly Kurdish townsfolk have had their eyes gouged out.

Refugees who made it to Suruc, just across the border in Turkey, tell of witnessing appalling horrors in hushed tones, as if they can barely believe it themselves.

Father-of-four Amin Fajar, 38, said: ‘I have seen tens, maybe hundreds, of bodies with their heads cut off. Others with just their hands or legs missing. I have seen faces with their eyes or tongues cut out – I can never forget it for as long as I live. They put the heads on display to scare us all.’

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Benghazi Select Committee Hearing

From The Post and Courier:

Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, the Republican chairman, vowed to pursue the facts wherever they lead him. Opening the panel’s first public hearing since its establishment four months ago, he said the U.S. must learn from past violence on U.S. facilities from Beirut to East Africa to Benghazi to prevent repeat attacks.

Watch the hearing via CSPAN:

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Two Austrian Girls Join ISIS

From IJR:

The girls’ parents are reportedly from Iraq. The Austrian Interior Minister confirmed that two more teenage girls have departed Austria to take up the cause of jihad in the Middle East. The Daily Mail reports that 130 such jihadist sympathizers have departed Austria to fight in the “holy war.”

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The Virtue of Subtlety: A U.S. Strategy Against the Islamic State

The Virtue of Subtlety: A U.S. Strategy Against the Islamic State is republished with permission of Stratfor.”

By George Friedman

U.S. President Barack Obama said recently that he had no strategy as yet toward the Islamic State but that he would present a plan on Wednesday. It is important for a president to know when he has no strategy. It is not necessarily wise to announce it, as friends will be frightened and enemies delighted. A president must know what it is he does not know, and he should remain calm in pursuit of it, but there is no obligation to be honest about it.

This is particularly true because, in a certain sense, Obama has a strategy, though it is not necessarily one he likes. Strategy is something that emerges from reality, while tactics might be chosen. Given the situation, the United States has an unavoidable strategy. There are options and uncertainties for employing it. Let us consider some of the things that Obama does know.

The Formation of National Strategy

There are serious crises on the northern and southern edges of the Black Sea Basin. There is no crisis in the Black Sea itself, but it is surrounded by crises. The United States has been concerned about the status of Russia ever since U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt negotiated the end of the Russo-Japanese war in 1905. The United States has been concerned about the Middle East since U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower forced the British to retreat from Suez in 1956. As a result, the United States inherited — or seized — the British position. Read the rest of this entry »

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Brother Rachid on The President’s Speech

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