Al Qaeda again threatens America (Thread 3) Daily Terror Threat

World Tribune ^ | Thursday, February 5, 2004

[Mossad1967]

SANAA, Yemen, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- A purported statement by al-Qaida in Yemen warned Saturday of a "major strike" soon in the United States.

The statement, distributed by the Yemeni Tagamoo Party for Reforms, said: "A major strike, a big event will take place in America soon," reminiscent of the Sept. 11 attacks.

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Previous threads

[Domestic Church]

"Why are they supposed to be glowing?"

Some kid dumped his fishtank full of Neons I guess. Either that or someone doesn't know about the natural reflective quality of fish scales.

[Domestic Church]

Both alarms sound the same in my neck of the woods...either way we head for the basement.

[JustPiper]

LOLLOL shhhhhhh its too early sis!

[Revel]

I Was being sarcastic. I was poking at our policy for dealing with China.

[MamaDearest]

ROFL - THAT WAS PRECIOUS, BUT TRUE!

[MamaDearest]

Apologize for incomple post - kitten on keys - think she wanted attention - and attention she got!

[MamaDearest]

Do you have any idea how great you are?! My cats and birds think I'm pretty special. But then again, they know I feed them. What's not to like about me under those conditions?

[JustPiper]

Since there are always yearnings for Apocalypse and fears and dread of Apocalypse coming together, I think it is inevitable that angels and everything associated with angels have this enormous popular revival.

- Harold Bloom

[MamaDearest]

Hmmmm, marketing perspective for Lake Erie snorkeling?

[Calpernia]

ROFL!

Bump!

[MamaDearest]

Reported on AOL news Carnival Cruise lines has 300 ill from Norovirus. Here we go again.

[Calpernia]

[MamaDearest]

No fair - you have the pictured proof about it all.

[Calpernia]

But I can't read our local paper. It makes my head hurt. I feel my brain cells starting to die off everytime I try :(

[Letitring]

LOL. There was nothing in mine. Nuthin. :)

[TexKat]

Hans Blix Calls Bush and Blair 'Salesmen'

By KATHARINE A. SCHMIDT, Associated Press Writer

HEIDELBERG, Germany - The former top U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq called President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair "salesmen" Sunday for their handling of information in the lead-up to war.

Hans Blix criticized the two leaders for attacking Iraq even though his U.N. inspection teams made no significant finds in their search for Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction — the main justification for the U.S.-led invasion.

"We as voters in a democracy expect critical thinking, and that politicians be very precise in the question of starting a war," Blix said in a speech to 500 members of the American-European Friendship Club in Heidelberg.

"To an extent I see them as salesmen." he said, referring to Bush and Blair.

The weapons expert also sharply criticized Washington for using what he called inaccurate intelligence concerning an alleged deal between Iraq and Niger to bolster Baghdad's nuclear capability, calling it "scandalous."

In his 2003 State of the Union address, Bush had asserted that Iraq was trying to obtain raw uranium in Africa, based on a report that has since been discredited.

Blix, 75, who headed the U.N. inspectors from 2000 to mid-2003 noted that no hidden weapons had been found in Iraq since 1991, but he did not rule out that a minor cache of weapons might yet be exposed.

He also addressed former U.S. weapons inspector David Kay's statement that Iraq was developing weapons programs shortly before the war. Although U.N. inspectors found no evidence of such programs, Blix said Iraqis could have restarted them based on their prior knowledge.

[JustPiper]

A Must Read!

STRATFOR INTELLIGENCE BRIEF


Russia: The Disappearing (and Reappearing) Candidate

Summary

Ivan Rybkin -- a Russian presidential candidate who
disappeared Feb. 5 -- surfaced in Kiev on Feb. 10, expressing surprise that anyone was concerned about his absence. Rybkin's cavalier attitude grants outsiders an idea of how slim the pickings will be in the March 14 presidential elections, and his indifference portends the shape of Russian internal -- and international --
politics in the years to come.

Analysis

Ivan Rybkin, a Russian presidential candidate who
disappeared Feb. 5, resurfaced in Kiev on Feb. 10. In an
interview with Interfax, he expressed bewilderment that his disappearance had caused such a fuss. Rybkin's cavalier attitude gives outsiders an idea of how thin the pickings will be in the March 14 presidential elections and foretells the path Russian internal --
and international -- politics will follow in the
years to come.

Soon after Rybkin's disappearance, which was
initially reported by his wife and his campaign manager, a nationwide hunt began. The leading conspiracy theory was that the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided to "disappear" the critical Rybkin, who has ties to Boris Berezovsky, the Kremlin's public
enemy oligarch No. 1.

Apparently nothing quite so dramatic was in the
works. Rybkin said he simply decided to take a few days off to visit friends in Ukraine. "I am entitled to two or three days of private life. Last week I decided to take a break from the intrigue that there was about me. I left fruit and money for my wife, who is looking
after our grandchildren at the moment, but did not
tell her anything. I changed my jacket, got on a train and went to Kiev."

Just in case some of our readers were wondering,
this is as weird as it sounds -- even for Russia.
Normally, Stratfor would not deign to comment on the
eccentricities of Russia's fringe electoral candidates. But in the upcoming elections, there is no one else to talk about.

The December 2003 Duma elections ushered in a fresh
parliament in which the party in power, United Russia, won a two-thirds majority. Most international observers labeled the elections as "free, but not fair," indicating that while the actual balloting process was handled appropriately, the government intervened
heavily during the campaign to maximize United Russia's
performance. As a result, the communists -- normally
the largest party in the Duma -- lost more than half of their deputies, and two pro-Western parties that have been hallmarks in Russian politics since 1992 simply faded away.

None of the parties -- not even the nationalist ones
that have pledged to cooperate with the Kremlin -- have
fielded their top personalities as presidential candidates. The reason is simple:
It would be pointless.

Consequently, from among the existing "field" of
candidates, Putin is currently polling some 80 percent support among potential voters. The "undecided" category is outpolling all the other candidates combined.

After he wins in March, Putin will don his threadbare cloak of democracy, and the Kremlin will have little problem pushing through policy with minimal public competition. This being Russia, there will be murky, behind-the-scenes wrangling over the details, but the Duma no longer will be part of the give-and-take
of Russian politics.

The Russian people do not seem particularly put out
by this state of affairs. The past 15 years have been jarring, to say the least, and the average Russian has seen his income drop by more than half. The health care system has collapsed, Russia is widely perceived as a has-been and the oligarchs have proven remarkably
successful (until recently) at running the country
like their own private profit center.

Yet the Russians have not rebelled, rioted or taken
much action at all. When the Yeltsin government began shelling the White House (where the Duma is housed) in 1993, the international community was outraged. Moscow slept.

We do not expect an outpouring of opposition in
March. Under Putin, salaries are mostly paid, stores usually have food on the shelves and incomes have risen slightly. For the average Russian, maintaining the present "stability" is far more important than building a vibrant democracy -- and Putin is generally liked for
making the Russians feel as if the post-Soviet freefall is finally over.

This feeling is not necessarily shared abroad. While
the United States clearly cares little about the internal
politics of its allies in the war on terrorism, the Europeans are a bit more discerning about relations with their neighbors. This does not mean the Europeans are going to ask for a divorce. Europe must deal with Russia by virtue of geography if nothing else, and the
Continent imports approximately 25 percent of its
primary energy needs from the former Soviet Union -- a proportion that will only grow in the years ahead. There will be no breaches in relations, but neither will anyone be leaving fruit on the table.

The difference in European-Russian relations --
which were not exactly blooming -- will be one of tone. Rather than the lovefest that was shaping up in the aftermath of Sept. 11, when it seemed East and West could finally put their differences aside, Europe's approach to Russia will be more circumspect. Infrastructure
projects that the Europeans once might have happily
paid for will remain on the drawing board, and any effort to strengthen non- energy trade will wither on the vine. The admittance of 10 new states into the European Union will mark the beginning of a new
division, not the joining of two economic and political worlds long split by the Cold War.

Should Russia under Putin continue, as is likely,
down a path the Europeans see as less than democratic, there is a real possibility that Europe could find ambitious U.S. military restructuring plans -- which will shift assets closer to the Russian frontier -- less distasteful than they did at first glance. In that light, Russia's lurch toward state control just might help the United States and Europe mend the rift in NATO
exposed by the Iraq war.

[Calpernia]

I wasn't about to let StillProud have ALL the fun!

[TexKat]

Man Held for Faking Wife's Death in Iraq

WATERBURY, Conn. - A man believed to have been the victim of a cruel prankster who told him his wife had been killed in Iraq has admitted concocting the story and was arrested Sunday, authorities said.

Edward Valentin, whose wife Betsy is an Army Reserve sergeant, was charged with making a false statement to police, falsely reporting an incident concerning a death and harassment, Police Chief Neil O'Leary said.

Valentin was being held in lieu of $5,000 bail, and arraignment was set for Monday.

"As far as why he did it, there's no clear answer," O'Leary said. "He claimed he did it because he has been struggling with three children. And if everyone felt sorry for him, including the military, they'd send Betsy home."

O'Leary said investigators also discovered that Valentin had been trying to date another woman, who was not interested in dating a married man.

Valentin told reporters that he received a call Wednesday from someone identifying himself as a colonel at the Department of Defense. The caller, he said, told him his wife had been killed in an explosion.

On Thursday, however, he received a call from his wife. There had been no explosion and no injuries. That led investigators to believe there had been a hoax.

Police said Saturday that Valentin admitted making up the story.

Valentin's story began to fall apart when a reporter for The Republican-American of Waterbury, who had previously interviewed Betsy Valentin, e-mailed her in Iraq. Hours later, she returned the e-mail and called her husband.

It was unclear Sunday whether Betsy Valentin knew her husband had been arrested. Maj. John Whitford of the Army National Guard said that the news would be passed through the chain of command.

[TexKat]

LOL Cal. The mad hatter or is it the mad hater.