http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers40%5Cpaper3910.html
Singapore and Al Qaeda: International Terrorism Monitor -— Paper No. 662
By B. Raman
While the main wing of Al Qaeda based in Pakistan’s tribal areas continues to draw its recruits, volunteers and supporters from the Arabic-speaking residents of West Asia and North Africa, with little command of the English language, its branch based in Yemen known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been drawing its adherents not only from the Arabic-speaking population of the region, but also from the community of Muslims in the English-speaking world who feel more comfortable with English than with Arabic.
2. Its recently started English web journal called “Inspire” is directed to the Muslims of the English-speaking world. It will serve the dual purpose of acting as the propaganda journal of AQAP and on line training facility for enabling self-radicalised jihadis in the English-speaking world to acquire expertise in the use of weapons and explosives and techniques of waging a jihad without having to visit the training camps of AQAP in Yemen.
snip.
13. Since 2001, Al Qaeda has shown an interest in organizing an act of terrorism in Singapore against a US ship touching at the local port similar to the attack on USS Cole at Aden in October 2000. Self-radicalised volunteers like Fadil would come in handy for such operations. Self-radicalised elements in the Singapore Muslim community may not have any grievance against the Singapore Government and may not let themselves be used by Al Qaeda against Singaporean targets, but they could be brain-washed by Al Qaeda to undertake operations against US or other Western targets in Singapore territory.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)
Time to Review the Russian Threat
July 8, 2010
by Dr. Robin McFee
Russia’s Reach – Far more than espionage!
The temptation to suggest ‘Russia is at it again’ with the recent arrests of several operatives in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the US, working under orders from Moscow, ignores the reality that Russia never stopped being…Russia! The end of the cold war was not the end of the cold warrior. She merely adapted. And some could argue, as I have, Russia is far more dangerous today than in the 1980’s. Back then she was oafish and clumsy – a bull if not bully in a crystal shop. Today she is charismatic, has packaged herself as a global honest broker – a force for reason that counters the influence of the US, especially as friend to developing nations, and much smarter in global affairs. Her leader – Putin is savvy, ruthless, and far more capable as a head of state than most of his counterparts world-wide. His protégé Medvedev (Putin-Lite) is more than an able extension of Putin.
snip.
Source: http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.6675/pub_detail.asp