Posted on 07/28/2008 8:37:15 AM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
Is U.S. Bioterror Attack Just A Matter of Time?
The overriding question is whether the U.S. is “ready” for a bioterror attack. The answer could well rely on the “other” question of what bio-agent and what’s the source? In 1991, 40,000 Russian scientists dispersed throughout the World, with knowledge of what the U.S.S.R. was doing in chemical and biological weapons. The question is to whom did they sell their knowledge? Some believe former Soviet scientists sold technology to countries like Iran, Syria, and North Korea. Lurking is the spectre of al-Qaeda, a group that the Pentagon says continues to pursue biological weapons.
Another scenario is an outbreak of a pandemic. How would the U.S. deal with an infectious disease outbreak? The picture, despite reassurances, is not pretty. Until now, the U.S. has experienced two major biological attacks.
In 1984, the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers attempted to take over the town of the Dalles, Oregon by contaminating salad bars in the town. In 2001, there was the as yet unsolved mystery of the anthrax letters that killed five people.
But the question of bioterrorism extends to potential threats against our food supply and our clean water resources. It also extends to the threat of outbreaks of diseases in our animals populations. Here, the concern are diseases that attack animals but that can jump to humans. These are referred to as zoonotic diseases. The World Health Organization defines zonnotic diseases as:
Read More
[A good report on terror, below a snippet from the middle, yes, school safety is always #1 in my mind, but also note the threat to our finances....granny]
http://www.killology.com/prospect_of_terror.htm
snipped...........
There are reports of Chechen rebels training in Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. The Chechnya Islamic terrorists are no doubt heavily influenced by Basayeav’s tactics, ideology and language of Wahabbis and Islamists in the Middle East.
Currently Islamic terrorists in Chechnya are being funded by various Wahhabi organizations. Al Qaeda’s presence in Chechnya was headed up by Osama Bin Laden’s protégé Amir ibn al-Khattab who was killed in a classic Russian Intelligence (KGB) operation, where a poisoned letter was delivered to him by an operative in May 2002 a Saudi national who had previously assisted Islamic fighters in Tajik Civil War and Armenia-Azerbaijan War.
Until his death in 2006, Basayev was hiding in the mountains of Chechnya along with Abu Walid al-Ghamdi (a relative of three of the 9/11 hijackers). Abu Walid al-Ghamdi leads the terrorist group IIB (Islamic International Brigade), which is unquestionably the hub of all al-Qaeda presence in Chechnya.
Another terrorist group operating in Chechnya is United Forces of the Caucasian Mujahideen, a Wahhabi group that was headed by Basayev, but most importantly includes the sha’riah court which provides theological rationales (killing children and attacking schools) for activities such as the Beslan murders.
Using this background and history of the region, we should look at the reasoning why Basayev and al Qaeda chose North Ossetia (Beslan) as a place to exact such devastation on society. Unlike the majority of the Caucasus, most North Ossetians are Eastern Orthodox Christians, therefore “making sense” that they be targeted rather then the neighboring Russian Muslim children in Dagestan if you are a true Wahhabists that subscribes to Bin Laden’s rhetoric.
Ties between al Qaeda and Chechen leaders go back as far as the 1990s. Basayev met Khattab in Nagorno-Karabakh and traveled to Afghanistan to receive al-Qaeda training along with fellow Chechens. Several elite Chechen Islamists were also Bin Laden’s personal bodyguards in Afghanistan.
As fighting in Chechnya intensified in 1999, Bin Laden sent large amounts of money (thought to be $30M) to Basayev and Khattab and then appointed Abu Tariq to oversee the distribution of al Qaeda funds in Chechnya.
Abu Tariq was killed in December 2002 and succeeded by Abu Omar a-Salif, another Arab national. Chechen fighters were even found in Afghanistan fighting against U.S. backed Northern Alliance at Mazar-e-Shairiff and Kunduz during Operation Enduring Freedom.
This does not include Russian reports that Abu Omar al-Saif bankrolled the Beslan attack and that there were dead Arabs found among the bodies of the Beslan hostage takers.
So where did Basayev get his orders to act on this operation and initiate a 20 member suicide mission in Beslan. To understand this better and to see what Bin Laden may have in store for the “Crusaders” (US, Western Governments and their people). By examining two respective statements made by Osama Bin-Laden in October and December 2001, one and three months after 9/11, it becomes obvious where Basayev received his encouragement to act as he did.
This Bin Laden treatise is also the crux of the foundation of this paper’s assertion that Al Qaeda inevitably will sanction and ultimately carry out attacks on grade schools in the United States.
By carefully looking at Bin Laden’s statements via Al Jazeera in October, 2001 and December 27, 2001, it is apparent that he is softening up the western leaders for a strike on the children of America. The statements are plain on their face and require no Nostradamus-esqe translation. Bin Laden’s statements are paraphrased below, the first statement was made by Bin Laden in a statement on tape that was given to Al-Jezeera, the second statement was made in an interview of Bin Laden by Al Jazeera television reporter Tayseer Alouni:
Statement #1 in December 2001:
1. The history of Arab mujahideen (in Afghanistan), by the grace of God, is clearly written on a snow-white sheet. They set out twenty years ago in the face of the Soviet Union’s real and culpable it does not make sense that those who set out to protect the we, if we start counting, how many millions have been turned out into the severe cold. These are the weak and oppressed from among men, women and children (reference to Quranic phrase 4:75) who are today seeking refuge in tents in Pakistan. They did not do any wrong. Just a suspicion and America attacked them so ferociously! One of these things that all humans agree on is that they do not kill innocent children.
2. What has happened in Palestine, and what is going on in Palestine today is the deliberate murder of children. This is utterly revolting, unjust and oppressive and threatens all humanity. To Muhammad al-Durra will happen to their own sons and women tomorrow and there is no power and force except from Allah. Thus, the grave fact is this vicious terrorism that America practices, and which showed it’s most revolting form in Palestine and in Iraq. Bush the Father is the ill-fated man who was the cause of the deaths of over a million Iraqi children, not counting other men and women also killed.
3. I say, it is very important to concentrate on striking the American economy by every possible means. We have seen here, with our own eyes, the true crimes of those who preach ‘humanity’ and ‘freedom.’
4. Each day, the nation of 1200 million Muslims, from the East to the West, experiences slaughter in Palestine and in Iraq and in Somalia and in Southern Sudan and in Kashmir and in the Philippines and in Bosnia and in Chechnya and in Assam and we do not hear a sound. And when the victim stands up, when the oppressed stands up and presents himself for the sake of his faith, they raise their voices.
The second statement made in a Q&A format in October 2001 (note: This is a portion of the entire statement, however the statement in full does not contradict any portion of the statement noted below):
Q [interrupting]: How about the killing of innocent civilians?
BIN LADEN: The killing of innocent civilians, as America and some intellectuals claim, is really very strange talk. Who said that our children and civilians are not innocent and that shedding their blood is justified? That it is lesser in degree? When we kill their innocents, the entire world from east to west screams at us, and America rallies its allies, agents, and the sons of its agents. Who said that our blood is not blood, but theirs is? Who made this pronouncement? Who has been getting killed in our countries for decades? More than 1 million children, more than 1 million children died in Iraq and others are still dying. Why do we not hear someone screaming or condemning, or even someone’s words of consolation or condolence?
How come millions of Muslims are being killed? Where are the experts, the writers, the scholars and the freedom fighters, where are the ones who have an ounce a faith in them? They react only if we kill American civilians, and every day we are being killed, children are being killed in Palestine. We should review the books. Human nature makes people stand with the powerful without noticing it. When they talk about us, they know we won’t respond to them. In the past, an Arab king once killed an ordinary Arab man. The people started wondering how come kings have the right to kill people just like that. Then the victim’s brother went and killed the king in revenge. People were disappointed with the young man and asked him, “How could you kill a king for your brother?” The man said, “My brother is my king.” We consider all our children in Palestine to be kings. We kill the kings of the infidels, kings of the crusaders, and civilian infidels in exchange for those of our children they kill. This is permissible in law and intellectually.
Q: So what you are saying is that this is a type of reciprocal treatment. They kill our innocents, so we kill their innocents?
BIN LADEN: So we kill their innocents, and I say it is permissible in law and intellectually, because those who spoke on this matter spoke from a juridical perspective.
Q: What is their position?
BIN LADEN: That it is not permissible. They spoke of evidence that the Messenger of God forbade the killing of women and children. This is true.
Q: This is exactly what I’m asking about.
BIN LADEN: However, this prohibition of the killing of children and innocents is not absolute. It is not absolute. There are other texts that restrict it. I agree that the Prophet Mohammed forbade the killing of babies and women. That is true, but this is not absolute. There is a saying, “If the infidels killed women and children on purpose, we shouldn’t shy way from treating them in the same way to stop them from doing it again.” The men that God helped [attack, on September 11] did not intend to kill babies; they intended to destroy the strongest military power in the world, to attack the Pentagon that houses more than 64,000 employees, a military center that houses the strength and the military intelligence.
Q: How about the twin towers?
BIN LADEN: The towers are an economic power and not a children’s school. Those that were there are men that supported the biggest economic power in the world. They have to review their books. We will do as they do. If they kill our women and our innocent people, we will kill their women and their innocent people until they stop.
Osama Bin Laden mentions the word child or children 10 times in the full statement in December 2001 that is paraphrased above and 24 times in the full Q&A done in October 2001. Being that Bin Laden is a master of intelligence and counter-intelligence and that he has a firm grip on western responses to threats and counter-threats, it should not be over looked that he went out of his way to use the word child ten times in one speech for Al Jazzera. In these remarks he notes that the Americans killed innocent children in their tents in Pakistan, he mentions the deliberate murder of one million Iraqi children by President George H. Bush. He reaffirms his idea of striking the American economy by every means possible and even mentions the slaughter of Muslims in Chechnya three years before the Beslan massacre. Without being an expert on Bin Laden, we should look at these statements on their surface.
Bin Laden uses the word “innocent children,” are there other types of children? Is he setting the pre-emptive response for what would be said if al Qaeda killed “innocent American children?” He mentioned by name, President George H. Bush, as being responsible for the death of over one million Iraqi children. Is this to supplant blame on Bush I and Bush II, and thus showing a trend of killing Muslim children in a systematic manner that transcends this current administration? He mentions that he wants to hurt the American economy in every way he can, surely a series of school attacks would bring on the US economy on many different levels. The U.S. economy would be stressed to the edges, if a series of schools were attacked, would mothers let their children go to school a week later, a month later, a year later? If not, then entire family structures would change for a limited time at least. Mothers and or fathers would have to reschedule their lives to accommodate the new schooling structure that would inevitably come to pass.
Would home schooling be the wave of American scholastic landscape? What pressures would be brought to bear on politicians from mothers, educators, school administrators, local and national labor coalitions? Can America afford to use the “wait and see” approach on these questions?
Bin Laden mentioned Chechnya by name, in stating that America is killing Muslims by the millions there and in Palestine, Iraq, Somalia and Philippines, these locations are all scenes of al Qaeda backed terrorist actions in the past. The fact that he uses the word children ten times in one statement is sobering in itself, but the fact that he ties it to other “misdeeds” by the United States is even more chilling. Could he do it? Could he order it done? Could he live with the worldwide Islamic response after ordering the death of 100s, if not 1,000s of school age children in America, the United Kingdom, Australia, Thailand, or any of the sovereign countries that have assisted the United States in its fight or war on terrorism in the holy lands. Sometimes, we as researches don’t have to go far and wide to find information and analysis on subjects such as this.
Recently I asked a close friend of mine, what he thought about the prospect of al Qaeda bombing schools in the United States, his statement was that of most of American’s, “No way would they go that far.” Interestingly, he followed his statement with, “they have never put bio agents in our water, nor have they released germs, but they could if they wanted to. They just won’t go that far.”
Is that what America thinks, if so, then what are our schools doing if anything to examine the threat. In a 2002 National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) survey conducted by Kenneth Trump, M.PA., President of National School Safety and Security Services, the below results were reported. The survey was recorded between July 14-19, 2002 at the 12th Annual NASRO Conference in California. The NASRO handed out 1,000 surveys to the school security officers and executives, 658 of the surveys were returned. The most interesting finding pertaining to this examination of terrorism on schools were:
continued, amazing how many of the OBL phrases, the liberal democrats use, every day............granny
North Caucasus Weekly
Volume 9, Issue 35 (September 19, 2008)
Ingush Reportedly Abducted in Moscow
Izbrannoe.ru reported on September 18 that Ingush living outside the republic are also feeling threatened. According to the website, ten natives of Ingushetia living in Moscow have disappeared with out a trace since the beginning of September. Interfax reported on September 17 that a police patrol in Serebryany Bor, a dacha area in northwest Moscow, had discovered Magomed Khamkhoev, a 35-year-old ethnic Ingush resident of the Russian capital, in handcuffs and wearing only underwear and a T-shirt.
Kommersant on September 18 quoted Khamkhoev as saying that he had been abducted by unknown persons and held in the basement of a cottage in Serebryany Bor, where he was beaten and tortured. He said that his captors made no demands of him, but spoke Ossetian to one another and, as he understood it, had some sort of links with the Russian special services. Khamkhoev said that during his incarceration, his captors showed him the body of an unidentified dead man that bore signs of torture and told him: “You will be same. That’s what you get for Beslan.”
Ethnic Ingush were involved in the September 2004 taking of hostages at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia. More than 330 of the hostages—more than half of them children—died after Russian commandos stormed the school building.
On September 17, while his captors were out of the house, Khamkhoev managed to break a window and escape. After police found Khamkhoev, they raided the cottage and searched the premises. Kommersant reported on September 18 that police found a cell for holding hostages and electro-shock devices to use for torture. The newspaper also reported that after Khamkhoev’s escape, Ingush opposition leader Magomed Khazbiev and the relatives of other Ingush who have disappeared in Moscow this month went to the site of the alleged secret prison. According to Kommersant, Bilan Khamchiev, a State Duma deputy from Ingushetia, has taken control of the investigation into Magomed Khamkhoev’s abduction and is connecting it to the disappearance of ten Ingush in the Russian capital since the start of September.
On September 19, Kommersant provided additional details about the search of the cottage. According to the newspaper, investigators found stripped electric cables which, the newspaper noted, could be used for torture, as well as a metal “cage.” According to relatives of Khamkhoev, who were allowed to observe the search of the cottage, the investigators inquired with the security detail for the dacha area to find out who owned the cottage, soon after which someone arrived at the scene identifying himself as Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Nikolaevich Ananev, who described the cottage as a “special facility” belonging to a military unit but did not say what it was used for. He did claim that the metal cage found inside was used for keeping dogs. The investigators, however, found no evidence that dogs had been kept there. According to Kommersant, the press services of the Moscow Military District and the Defense Ministry were unable to answer whether Lieutenant Colonel Ananev is indeed an active duty military officer or provide any information about the “special installation” in Serebryany Bor where Magomed Khamkhoev - and possibly other abductees – was held.
Ingushetiya.ru, meanwhile, reported on September 18 that the abduction of Ingush in Moscow is connected to the Ossetian-Ingush conflict over the Prigorodny district in North Ossetia, from which Ingush were expelled en masse in the early 1990s. According to the opposition website, all ten of the young Ingush who were kidnapped in Moscow this month were acquainted with Alikhan Kalimatov, a Federal Security Service (FSB) lieutenant colonel who had investigated the kidnappings and murders of Ingush in the Prigorodny district and was himself murdered a year ago. Kalimatov had reportedly collected evidence showing that the kidnappings and murders in the Prigorodny district were sanctioned by top North Ossetian officials and that the kidnappers of the Ingush in Moscow may have been trying to extract information about Kalimatov’s findings.
According to Kommersant, Kalimatov and his team found that 21 people—19 Ingush and two Chechens—were kidnapped in the Prigorodny district between the summer of 2005 and July 2007. The newspaper reported that Kalimatov said revenge for Beslan could have been the motive for the kidnappings but that his investigation had yielded no “concrete results.” Kalimatov was shot to death in Ingushetia in September 2007 (Chechnya Weekly, September 20, 2007). His death was blamed on militants, Kommersant reported.
Meanwhile, Ella Kesaeva, leader of the Voice of Beslan group, told Ekho Moskvy radio that the abduction and incarceration of Ingush in Moscow in revenge for the Beslan tragedy was a “provocation by the special services” aimed at “setting two peoples against one another.”
Find this article at:
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2374422
North Caucasus Weekly
Volume 9, Issue 35 (September 19, 2008)
Russian Media Fails to Conceal New Upsurge in Militant Activity
By Mairbek Vatchagaev
Recent developments in the North Caucasus covered in the mass media focused primarily on Dagestan and Ingushetia. The first news item, concerning the assassination of the Dagestan Jamaat (Dagestan section of the Caucasus Emirate) commander Abdul-Majjid, aka Ilgar Malachiev (Gazeta.ru, September 7), may potentially trigger substantial changes within the resistance movement’s structure. The fact is that the replacement of any prominent jamaat leader at the republican level invariably leads to other adjustments within the movement in general. These changes cannot fail to affect the rank-and-file rebel soldiers as the whole network of linkages connected to a given jamaat leader begins to unravel.
It comes as no surprise that any newly-appointed leader tends to focus on his own region. That was certainly the case during Abdul-Majjid’s appointment in September 2007 after his predecessor Amir Rappani Khalilov was killed during a special operation carried out by the Russian forces in Kizilyurt on September 17, 2007 (Lenta.ru, September 18, 2007). At the time, the appointment of Khalilov’s replacement set off a number of unwelcome developments in Dagestan. It was Amir Abdul-Majjid’s efforts that led to the expansion of the resistance movement’s operations into the southernmost parts of Dagestan, such as the city of Derbent and the areas adjacent to the border with Azerbaijan. A native of Zakaty (Azerbaijan), Abdul-Majjid did not set up a jamaat cell in southern Dagestan, but in all likelihood has managed to establish one across the border in Azerbaijan. The significance of the latter was that for the first time, the North Caucasus resistance movement has crossed regional boundaries and extended its efforts into the South Caucasus. It is still difficult to say whether the cell in the South Caucasus was a well-established jamaat unit, a novice group still in the planning stages in its new location or a handful of fighters who traveled to the South Caucasus for a quick break, which is just as plausible.
In any event, the areas adjacent to the Russo-Azerbaijani border are home to the Lezgin and Tabasaran ethnic communities who continue to maintain close contacts, often bypassing the boundaries that separate them. The area was also the location of the jamaat unit targeted by Azeri forces during a special operation of August 29-30 (Kavkaz.tv, September 2) in which government troops suffered some losses while the rebels managed to break the siege and escape unharmed. Presumably, the jamaat fighters, while on the run from the Azeri troops, crossed the Russian border into Dagestan, where they ran into the waiting trap of Russian special operations forces who had much better luck than their Azeri colleagues. The government reports of the Dagestan Jamaat commander’s death were confirmed several days later—possibly an indication of coordination challenges within the Sharia Jamaat after the loss of its commander (www.jamaatshariat.com, September 11), or of short-term communications breakdown before the appointment of Abdul-Majjid’s replacement, who would have to reclaim and take charge of all late commander’s connections. In a statement confirming Abdul-Majjid’s death, the Sharia Jamaat also claimed responsibility for the slaying of Dagestani reporter Telman Alishaev (http://media.rin.ru, September 3; North Caucasus Weekly, September 5) reportedly killed for leaving Islam (http://www.jamaatshariat.com/content/view/869/41).
In the meantime, Ingush President Murat Zyazikov made another stab at making one and all believe that Ingushetia is faring better than any other place. Oddly enough, Zyazikov blamed all Ingushetia’s problems on the United States. Zyazikov declared during a September 8 press conference with Itar-Tass that “for some reason, Comrade Bush has developed affection for faraway Ingushetia.” With enough daily incidents to make prioritizing them a challenge, if Ingushetia really is the most peaceful part of Russia, then the state of affairs in the less peaceful areas can be only imagined.
For example, the following seven incidents took place in Ingushetia on September 11 alone:
- gunfire targeting the residence of President Murat Zyazikov in the village of Barsuki;
- an explosion at a gas station in the city of Nazran;
- a bombing targeting Malgobek imam Hussein Shadiev (his leg was amputated as a result of the explosion);
- an evening shootout in Nazran;
- another evening shootout at the Ekazhevo post;
- an assassination attempt against Ibrahim Khalukhaev, son of the dean of the Institute for Economics and Law Sulambek Khalukhaev; an attempt was made on his father’s life the previous day;
- shots fired at the house of Daud Atigov, the brother of the chairman of Daymohk (Motherland) Ingush International Union.
This list includes only the incidents that were made public through the efforts of the opposition web site www.ingushetiya.ru. To make it clear that September 11 was not an exception to the rule, one can point out that the previous day, September 10, Murat Zyazikov’s cousin was assassinated, which in and of itself is less important than the fact that the victim was also the brother of the Chief of President’s personal security detail, meaning that the murder was clearly directed personally against President Zyazikov (www.newsru.com, September 10). There were other such incidents on September 10, including a shooting that wounded the dean of the Institute for Economics and Law Sulambek Khalukhaev and the killing of a fortune teller in the village of Troitskaya.
Ingushetiya.ru also reported a rather odd bit of news—that 44 employees of Ingushetia’s Interior Ministry had resigned on September 1, with another 27 members of the police force resigning on September 9. These reports stand in glaring contradiction to statements made by President Zyazikov.
In an unexpected turn of events, Ramzan Kadyrov made a surprise statement in support of the president of his neighboring republic, offering his reassurances that in the next few months, law and order will be restored in Ingushetia and “the wave of chaos” will subside. In effect, the Chechen leader, in an effort to give a boost to his neighbor, simply confirmed that a “wave of chaos” is indeed crashing over Ingushetia. Naturally, Kadyrov neglected to comment on the bombing of the Russian military base in the town of Vedeno on September 3 that left one serviceman dead and 11 wounded. He was also silent about the suicide bombing the same day at the base of the Yug Special Battalion, which killed one battalion member and wounded several others. Kavkaz-Center (www.kavkazcenter.com), the official mouthpiece of the radical wing of the North Caucasus resistance movement, releases daily reports of losses allegedly suffered by the Russian side. However, since most of these reports are difficult to corroborate, they can be considered but not relied on.
While the events of the past week were neither new nor sensational, the rebel fighters’ activities along the Dagestan-Kabardino-Balkaria perimeter suggest yet again that their operations, far from being isolated incidents, are far better organized than the Russian mass media would care to admit, and therefore the Russian army’s presence in the region is a strategically motivated decision.
Find this article at:
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2374424
North Caucasus Weekly
Volume 9, Issue 35 (September 19, 2008)
Briefs
Militants Kill Police in Karachaevo-Cherkessia
The Associated Press reported on September 14 that one police officer was shot to death and two wounded in Karachaevo-Cherkessia. The news agency quoted the republic’s Interior Ministry as saying that two unidentified militants gunned down a police colonel in front of his house and also riddled a traffic police car with bullets, wounding two officers inside.
Attacks Wound Zapad Battalion Commander, Kill Chechen Prosecutor’s Bodyguards
On September 17, unidentified gunmen fired on a vehicle carrying four members of the Defense Ministry’s Chechen-manned Zapad (West) battalion, including its commander, Beslan Edilkhanov. Utro.ru reported on September 18 that one serviceman, a 25-year-old private, was killed in the attack, while Edilkhanov was seriously wounded. A third serviceman was also wounded in the attack. Two policemen were shot to death by an unidentified gunman in Grozny’s Zavodsky district on September 12. A Southern Federal District law-enforcement source told Interfax that the slain policemen were members of Chechen chief prosecutor Valery Kuznetsov’s security detail.
Former Commander of Russian Forces in Chechnya Dies in Plane Crash
General Gennady Troshev, the former commander of Russian forces in Chechnya, was among the 88 people killed on September 14 when a Boeing-737-500 passenger jet operated by Aeroflot subsidiary Aeroflot Nord and flying from Moscow crashed on the outskirts of the Ural Mountains city of Perm. Russian accident investigators ruled out terrorism as the cause for the crash and were focusing on the possibilities of pilot error or engine failure. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov announced on September 14 that a street in the Chechen capital Grozny would be named after Troshev. Back in 2001, Troshev, who received a Hero of Russia award for his service, called for the public hanging of Chechen rebel fighters.
Find this article at:
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2374423
Where did the Saudi Aid to Lebanon Go?
http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=14220
28/09/2008
By Tariq Alhomayed
Tariq Alhomayed
It appears that Mr. Nabih Berri is trying to shine the media spotlight on
questions surrounding Saudi aid for the state of Lebanon, particularly the aid
Riyadh gave to the Lebanese people after the July 2006 War against Israeli
courtesy of Hezbollah.
Mr. Berri claims that Saudi money has been withheld from Southern Lebanon, and
instead was distributed in other areas, forcing the Information Office of the
Lebanese Prime Minister to respond and correct Mr. Berri by quoting accurate
official figures.
Let’s be clear, Saudi funds have gone to those who need it most, and not to
media agencies engineering propaganda campaigns to humiliate the Lebanese.
It’s strange that Mr. Berri is so concerned about Saudi aid, especially when
you consider the words of his ally Hassan Nasrallah’s during the 2006 war when
he stated ‘We do not need your money’ because we have secured ‘pure money’!
Despite all of this, Saudi aid went to villages in Southern Lebanon, as well
as other areas that required it; this was explained clearly in a detailed
report to the Lebanese government two days ago. There are two issues
surrounding Mr. Berri’s claim that deserve to be discussed further. Firstly,
it is normal for Saudi aid to Lebanon to be misrepresented in this manner for
the simple reason that Saudi money goes to those who need it most, and not, as
I said before, to the media, and certainly not on political poster campaigns
in Beirut and its suburbs.
Mr. Berri claims that Kingdom withheld funds to Southern Lebanon, but in
reality Saudi funds have been used to rebuild 220 villages out of 323 villages
in all of Lebanon, and not just the ‘five villages more or less’ which he
claims. And not to mention the funds used for building bridges and roads, in
addition to Saudi Arabia fulfilling its normal international obligations to
the country.
And remember this aid was delivered swiftly and without delay, since it did
not have to pass Hassan Nasrallah’s “purity” test.
The Saudi aid is sincere, and has been from day one, for the support of all of
Lebanon, there are those who believe the propaganda, and this is nothing but a
pipe dream, and when we discuss this so-called ‘pure money’ bear in mind that
the most that can come of it are buildings no stronger than a spider’s web.
The second issue regarding Mr. Nabih Berri’s claim that Saudi aid is being
redirected from Southern Lebanon to other areas, which implies that the
Lebanese government itself is preventing aid reaching the Shiites in the
South, to the benefit of the Sunnis.
This particular conclusion is an attack on the ‘Sunni’ Lebanese government,
and portrays Saudi Arabia as helping one sect at the expense of another,
instead of helping Lebanon as a whole. This is a fabrication! Since the Taif
agreement Riyadh has been even-handed with all sects, treating them equally,
even those who, in my opinion, do not deserve it, particularly the Iranian
Hezbollah!
When the late Prime Minister Rafik Al Hariri had good relations with Hezbollah
before his assassination, Saudi Arabia neither blamed nor boycotted his
administration, because it was eager for the unity of all of Lebanon. Of
course Riyadh and Mr. Berri find themselves taking different positions on this
issue, since Mr. Berri believes the “opposition” has a right to receive
external support, and by this of course he means Iran’s support of Hezbollah.
And why not? Nasrallah is proud of his connection to the Iranian Wilayat Al
Faqih!
The real wonder in all this are those who are critical of the Lebanese
government’s distribution of foreign aid, but ignore the adventurers
responsible for the death toll of 1200 Lebanese and five billion dollars in
damages!
Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, the youngest person
to be appointed that position. Mr. Alhomayed has an acclaimed and
distinguished career as a Journalist and has held many key positions in the
field including; Assistant Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, Managing Editor
of Asharq Al-Awsat in Saudi Arabia, Head of Asharq Al-Awsat Newspaper’s
Bureau-Jeddah, Correspondent for Al - Madina Newspaper in Washington D.C. from
1998 to Aug 2000. Mr. Alhomyed has been a guest analyst and commentator on
numerous news and current affair programs including: the BBC, German TV, Al
Arabiya, Al- Hurra, LBC and the acclaimed Imad Live’s four-part series on
terrorism and reformation in Saudi Arabia. He is also the first Journalist to
conduct an interview with Osama Bin Ladin’s Mother. Mr. Alhomayed holds a BA
degree in Media studies from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and has
also completed his Introductory courses towards a Master’s degree from George
Washington University in Washington D.C. He is based in London.
HEPATITIS B & C, HIV, NOSOCOMIAL (04): USA (NEVADA)
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A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Fri 26 Sep 2007
Source: AABB Smart Brief Inc online [edited]
http://www.smartbrief.com/news/aabb/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=1FC6EAB0-736D-4C22-B0C3-B12A4C126B30©id=2991F945-F1EF-472C-A46D-29DD1568B556
The Las Vegas Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada so far has been
linked to almost 90 cases of hepatitis C. The figure, however, should
continue to rise as more of the 50 000 patients notified by the
clinic are tested for possible exposure to the virus. The case could
surpass the damages caused by a similar incident in Nebraska in 2000,
considered the nation’s largest health care-related outbreak, with 99
reported infections.
—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
[In February 2008, the Southern Nevada Health District advised
patients who received injected anesthesia medication at the Endoscopy
Center of Nevada of a risk for possible exposure to hepatitis C and
other bloodborne pathogens [see: Hepatitis B & C, HIV, nosocomial
(02): USA (NV), archive number 20080228.0809]. The health district
recommended that patients who had procedures requiring injected
anesthesia at the clinic between March 2004 and 11 Jan 2008 contact
their primary care physicians or health care providers to get tested
for hepatitis C as well as hepatitis B and HIV.
At that time, the health district had received notification of 3
acute cases of hepatitis C in January 2008 and has identified a total
of 6 further cases; 5 of these cases had procedures requiring
injected anesthesia on the same day. Following a joint investigation
with the Nevada State Bureau of Licensure and Certification (BLC) and
with consultation from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the health district determined that unsafe injection
practices related to the administration of anesthesia medication
might have exposed patients to the blood of other patients. Genetic
testing on 4 of the cases contracting infection on the same day has
identified that they likely came from a common source. The patient
that had a procedure on a different day did not share a common source
as did the other 4. This indicated that the problem that allowed
disease transmission to occur was not a one-time event but had
recurred over an extended period. Investigation of the clinic
practices identified common practices that would allow disease to be
transmitted in this manner.
Since that report, it transpires that more than 90 cases of hepatitis
C virus infection have been identified, and more than 50 000 patients
are being recalled for testing. Thus, this outbreak may become the
largest outbreak of hepatitis C virus infection in the USA. Up to the
present, the largest hepatitis C outbreak was a consequence of
malpractice at a clinic in Nebraska. In November 2002, ProMED-mail
(see, Hepatitis C, clinic-acquired cluster - USA (NE) (02), archive
number 20021120.5857) reported that 612 patients at the Fremont
Oncology Clinic had been sent letters advising them of risk of
hepatitis C virus infection as the result of a faulty procedure. In
total, 81 of 485 patients who responded tested positive for hepatitis
C virus infection. Mod.MPP commented at the time that an attack rate
of 17 percent (81/485) suggested that unsafe injection practices were
occurring over a period of time rather than as a unique event. This
observation is supported by a recent report (see: News Blaze online
http://newsblaze.com/story/20080925110427zzzz.nb/topstory.html
that the number of confirmed cases in this incident has risen to 99. - Mod.CP]
[For a map of the United States see
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/united_states_pol02.pdf
Nevada is in the southwestern portion of the USA.
For the interactive HealthMap/ProMED map of the United States with
links to other recent ProMED postings on events in the United States
and surrounding areas, see
http://healthmap.org/promed?v=40,-97.6,4
Mod.MPP]
[see also:
Hepatitis B & C, HIV, nosocomial (03): USA (NV) 20080302.0854
Hepatitis B & C, HIV, nosocomial (02): USA (NV) 20080228.0809
Hepatitis B & C, HIV, nosocomial - USA: (NV), aler... 20080228.0802
2002
ANTHRAX, HUMAN, 2001 - USA (12): COMMENT
****************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Wed 24 Sep 2008
Source: Anthraxvaccine.blogspot [edited]
http://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2008/09/additional-comments-by-dr-popov-on.html
Comments by Dr. Popov on producing anthrax
PERMEABILITY OF BACTERIAL SPORES II. Molecular Variables Affecting
Solute Permeation. Philipp Gerhardt and S. H. Black, Department of
Bacteriology, The University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor,
Michigan. J Bacteriol. 1961 November; 82(5): 750-760.
2. In order to test my scenario of the inconspicuous preparation of
anthrax powders in the lab by somebody like Bruce Ivins, I estimated
the amount of spores required for one letter. The information on the
Internet says that the letters contained about 7 to 10 grams of
material, of which roughly 2 to 3 grams were weaponized spores.
Federal investigators say the Leahy anthrax powder had not been lost
in the letter’s opening. The amount, typical of the tainted letters,
was 0.871 g.
So, let’s assume it was 0.9 g. According to Dugway and my estimates
of the spore weight (based on the spore size of 1 micron^3) one gram
of dry spores contains from (0.7 to 1)x10^12 spores. It is (0.6 to
0.9)x10^12 spores/letter. If the Bruce anthrax was 3x10^9/ml, it
would take him at least 200 ml of the spore suspension per letter
from the flask he possessed. For all 5 letters, he must have used up
the whole one-liter flask. The solid medium process in the lab gives
us 5x10^9 spores from a regular Petri dish. It would require at least
100 plates/letter. This number of plates is impossible to handle
inconspicuously. In any case, if the amount of powder in the letter
is correct, and the spores constitute the majority of it, there is
more than a 10-fold discrepancy between the required amount of spores
and the amount the perpetrator could have covertly taken from the
flask or prepared on the agar plates. This bolsters a hypothesis of
the fermentor-cultivated spores at the microbiological facility.
Interestingly, the powder from the 1st letters sent on 18 Sep 2001 to
NY contained a lot of unsporulated bacteria. It is impossible to
imagine that the powder of this quality could have been prepared for
the military experiments by knowledgeable personnel. They would
certainly discard the prep. Was the perp in rush to prepare the
spores as quick as possible to make a connection with 9/11and
therefore, by mistake, stopped the fermentation before the culture
sporulated completely? It was only a week between the bombing and the
mailings — very tight but possible schedule for this kind of job, if
all the equipment was readily available. The next preps were more
successful, but took longer. Has the equipment been previously used
to cultivate _B. subtilis_ for training purposes? This would be
consistent with a contamination. Again, it indicates availability of
a facility, and I’m afraid to say — a team effort, which is
something fundamentally different from a lonely Bruce using Petri
dishes and a lyophilyzer.
3. The perpetrator did not have to use plates, but it is the
simplest way. However, I disagree with the investigators’ time
estimate. 3 to 7 days for several grams of spores? Have they tried to
do it themselves? Running a fermentor and drying spores is not a
3-day job. It is not enough time even for a growth and sporulation on
plates (we harvest spores on the 5th day). As I said earlier, a week
is a very tight schedule. For a fermentor, there are additional steps
of growing the seeding cultures (one or more days, depending on the
volume). And fermentation cannot be accomplished during the evening
hours only. By the way, did Bruce have access to the fermentor?
The theory of fermentor can only stand if other people were aware of
the perpetrator’s experiments. If we accept this, we ought to
conclude it was a collective effort at [a] well-equipped facility: it
wasn’t just [a lone perpetrator.]
—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
promed@promedmail.org
[Our thanks to Sergei Popov, George Mason University, for permission
to post his interesting comments.
The problem with liquid culture is reaching 100 percent dormancy.
Some spores are trying to germinate while others are still
sporulating. Note Segei’s comment above that the 1st batch of letters
contained “a lot of unsporulated bacteria.” It is far easier to
produce higher quality (i.e., next to 100 percent fully dormant
spores) in large numbers on solid agar flats. However, the Americans
have always opted for fermenter-produced spores as opposed to the
Brits and the Canadians.
However it would seem to be clear that the letter products were
cultured from one or more aliquots taken from the accumulated
contents of flask RMR-1029 which were collected between 1997 and the
summer of 2001, and the flask was latterly kept in Bruce Ivins’
laboratory. - Mod.MHJ]
[See also:
Anthrax, human, 2001 - USA (11): review 20080924.3019
Anthrax, human, 2001 - USA (10): evidence 20080828.2696
Anthrax, human, 2001 - USA (09): evidence 20080819.2591
Anthrax, human, 2001 - USA (08): evidence, drugs 20080818.2566
Anthrax, human, 2001 - USA (07): letters, evidence 20080812.2492
Anthrax, human, 2001 - USA (06): letters, evidence 20080811.2488
Anthrax, human, 2001 - USA (05): letters, evidence 20080807.2428
Anthrax, human, 2001 - USA (04): letters, evidence 20080806.2412
Anthrax, human, 2001 - USA (03) 20080805.2406
Anthrax, human, 2001 - USA (02): letters, evidence 20080805.2392
Anthrax, human - USA 2001: letters, new suspect 20080803.2371
2002
DEATH THREAT POSTED ON THE YOUTUBE ACCOUNT OF PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR BILL WARNER BY SALMAN AL FARSI OF AL-MUHAJIROUN, WHAT TOOK SO LONG ?
DEATH THREAT POSTED ON THE YOUTUBE ACCOUNT OF PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR BILL WARNER BY SALMAN AL FARSI OF AL-MUHAJIROUN, WHAT TOOK SO LONG ?
jamalsaid24 has posted a comment on your profile.....may the same be upon you, DEATH BE UPON YOU AND THE AMERICANS AND THE BRITAIN’S AND THE WEST AND ALL OF THE ENEMIES OF AL ISLAM, AND THEN YOU WILL SEE WHEN YOU DIE HOW GREAT WAS THE PUNISHMENT OF ALLAH SUBHANNA WA TAL’A(THE ONLY GOD AND THE TRUTH). To view this comment, visit your profile , Bill Warner, on YouTube.
Name: Salman Al Farsi http://www.youtube.com/user/jamalsaid24, Lover of Jihad - Nasheed by Abu Hafs, September 26, 2008, 11:18 AM. He was a mujaahid who died. May ALLAH(SWT) make him amongst the shuhada. Ameen.
SHARI’A should be implemented in the world and KHILIFAH, that’s our aim and we will never stop until we get it inshalah,we should speak out against tyrants rulers and Allah(swt) says: they do not fear the blame of the blamers.. Support your brothers and sisters who are in prison in belmarsh and in Holloway prison(H.M.) and many more, If you would like to know more go to www.islam4uk.com jazakallahu khair. Country: Somalia..... Website: http://www.islam4uk.com .
Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with the dozen or so Radical Islamic websites (some linked to al-Qaeda) that I have shut down this year ?
Bill Warner
Private Investigator
www.wbipi.com
28.09.2008
European Secret Services Daily Review
AIA
British Embassy in Moscow under bugging and espionage from Russian
secret service
Outgoing British Ambassador in Moscow Sir Tony Brenton, 58, has given a
wide-ranging exclusive interview on the eve of his departure to The Mail
on Sunday. He will next week be replaced by Anne Pringle, Britain’s
first female Ambassador to Russia. Some in Whitehall were reluctant for
Sir Tony to be interviewed, the paper marks.
The Ambassador marks that the embassy “has come under a greater barrage
of bugging and espionage from the Russian secret service than at any
time since the end of the Cold War”. British diplomats in the Russian
Federation again feel they are being closely monitored by the Kremlin –
and that the eavesdropping is on the increase, according to Ambassador
Brenton. “One of the sad things about working here is that you have to
assume you are being listened to.” At the same time he denied rumours in
Moscow that his two cats were regularly checked for bugging devices. The
suggestion may seem fanciful, but the Soviet KGB once successfully
implanted a listening device into a US ambassador’s dog, the paper
notes. However, Sir Tony Brenton makes it clear that ever-more elaborate
measures are needed to avoid the attention of Russian intelligence
agents. “[..] there are some pieces of official business that it is best
not to talk about other than in very protected circumstances.”
Many suspect that Britain is now searching for a way to start a new
phase of relations with Russia. Yet the main stumbling block, the murder
of the former Russian Federal Security Service officer Alexander
Litvinenko in London, is still unresolved. The Ambassador recognises
that things must move on, with Britain being the biggest investor in
Russia, but also says the Litvinenko issue, and the demand for Lugovoy’s
extradition, will not go away. Ambassador Brenton says he is sure that
Anne Pringle will arrive to Moscow with the same clear instructions that
the British diplomats continue to press for extradition of the Litvineko
murder suspect Andrei Lugovoy.
http://axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1658
UN approves new Iran resolution
The UN Security Council has unanimously passed a new resolution on Iran,
reaffirming demands it stop enriching uranium, but imposing no new
sanctions.
The text calls on Iran to “comply, and without delay, with its obligations”
under past resolutions and co-operate with the UN nuclear watchdog, the
IAEA.
Iran dismissed the move and said it would not stop enriching uranium, which
it says is for peaceful purposes.
Western nations suspect Iran wants to build a nuclear weapons capability.
The draft was agreed after Russia said it would not support further
sanctions.
But Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said the new resolution
would cause “mistrust” and would not help global peace and security.
“These [resolutions] are not constructive,” he told Iranian television.
“What they need to do is to attract the trust of the Iranian nation through
constructive co-operation and collective commitment.”
On Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned it would resist
“bullying powers” trying to thwart its nuclear ambitions.
‘Comply without delay’
The UN Security Council has already imposed three packages of sanctions
against Iran for defying its calls to halt uranium enrichment and plutonium
reprocessing and refusing to answer questions from the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA).
[The resolution] shows that the world community is united on this issue,
that Iran must co-operate
Zalmay Khalilzad, US Permanent Representative to the UN
In a report last week, the agency said that without further information, it
would not be able to provide assurances about Iran’s nuclear programme to
the international community.
Resolution 1835 therefore called on Iran to “comply fully and without delay”
with previous Security Council resolutions and meet the requirements of the
IAEA.
It also reaffirmed the Security Council’s “commitment to an early negotiated
solution to the Iranian nuclear issue” and welcomed the “dual-track
approach” by its five permanent members along with Germany.
The draft resolution was put forward after a surprise foreign ministers’
meeting in New York on Friday, and talks between Russia and the US.
The US Permanent Representative to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said the
resolution would send a message to Iran that the sextet stood together,
despite his country’s disagreement with Russia over last month’s conflict in
Georgia.
“It shows that the world community is united on this issue, that Iran must
co-operate,” he told reporters in New York.
‘Face-saving document’
The BBC’s Bridget Kendall at the UN in New York says this brief resolution
is a compromise document, which was drafted after Russia made clear it would
not contemplate anything harsher.
So instead of a resolution that would have imposed new and tougher
sanctions, this is simply a restatement of previous resolutions, our
correspondent says.
But there is tellingly no “or else” clause to suggest that non-compliance
could lead to further penalties, she adds.
Russia’s UN representative, Vitaly Churkin, claimed the resolution had been
his country’s idea and was aimed at focusing minds on political, rather than
military solutions.
Earlier in the week Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pulled out of
high-level talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, declaring the time was not
right to impose more sanctions.
Our correspondent says it appears that the US and European powers then
scrambled to find a face-saving document that would paper over any
disagreements.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/in_depth/7640133.stm
Published: 2008/09/28 04:14:49 GMT
C BBC MMVIII
French file hijacking and hostage-taking charges against Somali ‘pirates’, Al-Shabaab.
French file hijacking and hostage-taking charges against Somali ‘pirates’ who seized the Carre d’As yacht, Oscar Quine.
French officials have filed preliminary charges for hijacking and hostage-taking against six suspected Somali pirates accused of taking 2 French citizens captive near the Suez canal, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
Indictments for armed robbery were also filed against them late yesterday, a judicial official said, adding that the suspects had admitted their role in the incident this month to varying degrees.
The six were captured in a highly choreographed French commando operation to free the hostages. Officers of the DGSE, equivalent to Britain’s MI6, stormed the 50 ft Carré d’As (Four Aces) on September 15, killing one pirate and capturing six others before successfully rescuing the retired French Polynesian couple.
Afterwards, military sources told of the high levels of planning that had gone into the operation. The troops were dropped by parachute some distance from the stationary yacht and swam towards her with night-vision goggles and undetectable breathing systems. They clambered aboard silently with ropes and light grappling hooks, taking the pirates by surprise.
The spike in attacks at sea has coincided with a rise in assaults on land by radical al-Shabaab insurgents, including the capture of Somalia’s strategic southern port Kismayu. The United States say al-Shabaab is a terrorist group with close ties to al Qaeda. Experts say some of the businessmen and warlords who command the pirates are also funding the rebels. “The entire Somali coastline is now under control of the Islamists,” Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, told Reuters in an interview. “According to our information, the money they make from piracy and ransoms goes to support al-Shabaab activities onshore.”
Al-Shabaab in Somalia is Al-Qaeda. The Al-Shabaab official website is hosted in the USA at the Dotster Web Hosting Co; DOTSTER INC 8100 NE Parkway Dr #300 Vancouver, WA 98662, E-Mail: abuse@mailto:dotster.com ..... Complaints legal@dotster.com Phone 1-360-449-5985
The case follows a similar incident in April, when helicopter-borne French troops swooped in on Somali pirates, after they had released dozens of hostages, and captured six of them.
In a triumphant predawn speech, President Sarkozy, who supervised the attack from the Élysée Palace in Paris, spoke of the extent of the problem and the extent of the threat it posed. “These are not isolated cases, but a fully fledged criminal industry. [It] endangers our fundamental rights, freedom of movement and international trade.”
He also called for a unified international response to the problem of Somali pirates, who have hijacked at least 54 ships this year, making the shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden the most dangerous in the world. The successful operation was a boon to Mr Sarkozy as he struggles with a faltering economy and low public rating. Following the initial incident, he refused to answer questions on the global financial crisis, saying that he was too tired having been up all night conducting the operation.
Pirates usually travel in high-powered speedboats and are heavily armed. They sometimes hold ships for weeks, with the aim of collecting large ransoms paid by governments or owners. Somalia doesn’t have a navy, and its fragile Government has sought international help to fight the problem in the past.
Bill Warner
Private Investigator
www.wbipi.com
Thanks Granny.
What is the youtube account of the pi?
Ok granny, I got it, and thanks for the ping.
[Always a communist connection...granny]
snipped.....
Perhaps the most notable aspect of this relationship is the symbiosis between the different actors, and the reactivation of the old Marxist networks, in a much diminished form, in much of Latin America.
For example, the MIR of Chile, the Tupac Amaros in Peru, parts of the FMLN in El Salvador-specifically the Communist Party- and various groups under the umbrella of the Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana (CCB), are all in contact and cooperate with the FARC. The internal documents make clear that the CCB is funded and directed by the FARC, and its coordinating offices are in Caracas.
Rather than Cuba and the Soviet Union providing the financing, training and safe haven for operations for these groups, it is now Venezuela and Nicaragua, with the support of Iran. The documents show that the FARC often explicitly states that Cuban officials are not to be informed of transactions or meetings.
Iran, and increasingly Russia, are providing support to the regional state actors who support the FARC’s political objectives of overthrowing the Colombian government and establishing a Marxist regime, that in turn are providing support to the FARC directly, or its proxies.
This network has been particularly useful as the FARC has sought desperately to acquire surface-to-air missiles, the documents show. The group asks for aid from the Libyan and Nicaraguan governments, discusses the issue with senior Venezuelan officials, and finally makes contact with two Australian arms merchants, through the member of the Communist Party in El Salvador.
http://www.rightsidenews.com/homeland-security/
Our current economic crisis: Could part be a terror attack on U.S. financials?
September 28, 2008
Financial Terrorism
Northeast Intelligence Network
On this year’s anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, there was a sudden surge in the activity of U.S. hedge funds originating from overseas... like Dubai. There was a sharp rise in “short selling” of stocks, similar to the suspicious trades in the days preceding September 11, 2001. According to one well-known economist, the same institutions attacked on 9/11 are those suffering now. Coincidence?
Add Comment (0)
Financial Terrorism on Wall Street?
September 28, 2008
Two articles have been published that need to be examined concerning the possibility of financial terrorism’s role in Wall Street. (see related article)
michael.jpg
Terrorist attack Wall Street
Sept 18, 2008 1201 PM PDT
By Michael Webster: Investigative Reporter
U.S. government law enforcement agencies including the SEC, FBI and DOJ are on alert and are believed investigating terror and other related short selling illegal manipulation of the market place.
Add Comment (0)
Sharia Law: Coming to a Western Nation Near You?
September 25, 2008
by Cinnamon Stillwell
FrontPage Magazine
Georgetown University’s Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMSU) will be hosting a conference on October 23 that asks the loaded question: “Is There a Role for Shari’ah in Modern States?”
Add Comment (0)
Directives for Islamic Terrorist Attack in U.S. Appear on the Internet
September 24, 2008 - Northeast Intelligence Network
SPECIAL REPORT: “Commandments Before The Strike”
ALERT: Instructions for actions Muslims are to take before, during & after an attack in the U.S. posted:
* Message suggests activation of worldwide jihad following U.S. attack;
* Message indicates large-scale attack within the U.S., perhaps early October;
* Text, posting under analysis by U.S. Intelligence officials
The dragon and the bear
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/09/29/10248469.html
09/28/2008 11:56 PM | By Dmitry Shlapentokh, Special to Gulf News
Second honeymoons rarely, if ever, recapture the zest of lost love. Yet ever since the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, Russia and China have sought to rekindle the close relations that once supposedly existed between the USSR and Mao’s China before Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin in 1956. But that renewed Sino-Russian marriage always smacked more of convenience - aimed as it was at checking American hegemony - than of true romance. Now Russia’s invasion of Georgia has shattered even the illusion of attraction.
In 1969, the Chinese and Soviet armies exchanged fire across their disputed border. Recently, the two countries signed an agreement that seemed to put an end to their long border dispute. The agreement was a sort of follow-up to the visit to Beijing of Dmitry Medvedev, who made China one of his first official trips abroad after being elected Russia’s president.
During Vladimir Putin’s presidency, Chinese and Russian troops engaged in joint military manoeuvres, and the two countries became dominant powers in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which, to some Western observers, looked like an effort to counterbalance Nato. There were also years of “Russia in China” and “China in Russia” cultural exchanges.
But the fact is that 17 years of high-level bilateral cooperation have produced little of substance. Indeed, in the wake of the invasion of Georgia, China may be seriously rethinking its relations with Russia. It may not yet be ready to embark on a full-fledged policy of “containment”, but in the wake of the dismemberment of Georgia - and with Russia claiming a zone of “privileged influence” throughout the former Soviet world - China clearly views Russia as an emerging strategic threat.
China views the break-up of the USSR as one of the greatest strategic gifts in its history. Instead of confronting a (usually hostile) Russian/Soviet empire on its border, a vast swath of buffer states appeared after 1991. Their continued independence is now deemed essential to China’s national security. As a result, any more Russian efforts to establish even informal suzerainty over the Soviet successor states are, following the dismemberment of Georgia, likely to meet Chinese resistance.
Economic components
The economic components of the Sino-Russian relationship - where real attachments are tested - are also dissatisfactory, at least from China’s point of view. China’s major interest in Russia is oil and gas. But, while Russia is firmly committed to being a major supplier of gas and oil to Europe, it is hesitant to play a similar role with China. Moreover, Russia’s efforts to gain monopoly control of the gas pipeline networks across Eurasia pose a direct danger for China, because monopolists cannot only gouge their consumers, but also shut off supplies for political purposes, as Russia has done repeatedly over the past two decades. So China’s national security interest is to ensure that the gas-supplying nations of Central Asia have outlets to sell their gas that are not under Kremlin control.
Other than oil, gas, and other commodities, China has rather limited interests in Russia. Russia has been China’s major supplier of weapons since the late 1990s. But, given the stagnant state of Russian science and technology, even the best Russian equipment nowadays seems out of date. As China is now able to harness its own technological might to produce sophisticated weapons, Russia’s usefulness in this area is waning fast.
Nor do the Chinese have much interest in assuming de facto control of Asiatic Russia, despite shrieks from Russian strategic pundits that this is China’s real goal. China might, indeed, have an interest in some border areas with fertile soil and moderate climate. But it hardly wishes to colonise the frozen wastes of Siberia. In fact, Siberia is not much different from China’s own almost empty mountain/desert borderlands, where even agriculture is a daunting task. As for Russia’s Far East, the Chinese believe it will eventually fall to China anyway, so there is no need to hasten the process.
China is far more interested in focusing on the United States, its major trade partner and rival, and on South Asia and Iran, which supplies much of China’s oil and regards it as a more reliable ally than Russia. Thus, the settling of the border dispute with Russia was not aimed so much at building a geopolitical marriage as securing each other’s rear, offering both sides a free hand to explore opportunities elsewhere.
What China wants and what it gets may be different things. With its long borders with Russia, China knows it would have much to regret if a new, oil-fired Russian empire appeared on its doorstep.
- Project Syndicate, 2008.
Dmitry Shlapentokh is Associate Professor of History at Indiana University, South Bend.
You are welcome to the ping...........and I did not know what the u-tube account was for the PI...........LOL
As usual, you are on top of it.
Iran fishing in troubled waters
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/09/29/10248474.html
09/28/2008 11:56 PM | By Abdullah Al Shayji, Special to Gulf News
Recent reports on the presence of cells of Iranian spies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and the skirmishes over the differences of opinion of religious scholars from Sunnis and Shiites sects respectively are distinctive factors which are shaping the strategic scene in our neighbourhood. This will also continue to influence the outcome of the on-going policies in shaping the future of our volatile region, which continues to oscillate between peace and the ominous prospect of a cataclysmic war, in the final months of the waning Bush administration.
The US seems to be divided on how to deal with Iran. Hawkish neoconservatives are opposed to those who are in favour of a dialogue with the Islamic Republic. Against this background, there is also a bipartisan call made by four former US secretaries of state calling on the next American president to open up a dialogue with Iran. They have argued that “diplomacy is talking to your adversaries and not only to your allies”. On the other hand, four former US officials, Richard Holbrooke, James Woolsey, Dennis Ross and Mark Wallace wrote an editorial piece in the Wall Street Journal in which they highlighted the dangers of a nuclear Iran. “Everyone should be worried about Iran,” they wrote and stated that “a nuclear-armed Iran would likely destabilise an already dangerous region that includes Israel, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, and poses a direct threat to America’s national security”.
Further, they said that “to lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with our allies, the UN and others by a strong showing of unified support from the American people to alter the Iranian regime’s current course. The American people must have a voice in this great foreign-policy challenge, and we can make a real difference through national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures”.
However, we cannot rule out an October surprise - an agreement between the US and Iran, such as the one that was made 29 years ago by Ronald Reagan that ended the US hostages crisis. It too was made in October.
The Emir of Qatar, Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, pointed out recently in Syria that the GCC states have no problem with Iran, except for the occupation of the UAE three islands of Abu Mousa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs. Nevertheless, the GCC-Iran schism seems to have been inching towards more confrontation and tension due to the lack of confidence building between the two sides.
Apprehension
Clearly, there is apprehension in the GCC states over Iran and its grandiose expansionist design in the region. They fear that Tehran is keen to fill the strategic void in the region and exploit it in its favour. If Iran achieves its goal, it will become the most influential country in the region and will hold the keys to various strategic and potentially flashpoints in the Middle East. Moreover, it is now benefiting from the Russia-Western standoff over Georgia, which is inching towards another cold war. Thanks to US miscalculations, the toppling of Saddam Hussain’s regime in Iraq and the Taliban’s in Afghanistan have worked to Iran’s advantage. As such, the Islamic Republic has become a regional power by default.
The concern of the GCC vis-a-vis Iran is not limited only to Tehran’s policy in Iraq, they are worried about its nuclear programme, its repeated threats to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, its perceived attempt to spread Shiism, and the bullying of the region. What’s more, they are alarmed at Iran’s lack of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the damning report presented by the IAEA on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Iran’s menacing actions in the past few weeks are more alarming and created a flutter in the GCC states. Tehran has opened an administrative office in the UAE’s island of Abu Mousa. All the GCC states in a joint statement lambasted Iran’s illegal act. Members of Al Shura Council of Saudi Arabia equate Iran’s occupation of the UAE islands with the Israeli occupation of Arab land. In retaliation, Iran ejected the bureau chief of Al Arabiya TV, the Saudi owned pan Arabist news network.
Meanwhile, a leading Sunni religious leader, Shaikh Yousuf Al Qaradwi, an Egyptian with Qatari citizenship warned about the menace of Iran with its Shiism brand of Islam threatening Sunni countries in the Middle East.
To make matters worse, Kuwaiti Members of Parliament claimed that there are about 25,000 Iranian revolutionary guards in Kuwait disguised as Iranian expats working in Kuwait! What fanned the flames even further was a report, published by a first-time Kuwaiti MP in a leading Kuwaiti newspaper, which stated that Iran could occupy Kuwait to make things difficult for the Americans in order to deter them from launching a military strike against Iran. What was frightening was, the MP’s insistence that some of the spies are Kuwaiti citizens. These revelations brought to the fore the loyalty issue, once again. A couple of years ago, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak asserted that most Shiites in the Arab world are loyal to Iran and not to their own countries. King Abdullah of Jordan, too has sounded a warning of a Shiite crescent stretching from Iran to Lebanon.
However, the presence of Iranian covert operators was denied by Kuwait’s Minister of Interior Shaikh Jaber Khalid Al Sabah, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Defence Minister Brigadier General Mustafa Mohammad-Najjar. The Iranian embassy in Kuwait too denied such assertions.
However, in an interview with Gulf News, Adel Alassadi, a former Iranian diplomat who is living in exile, confirmed the presence of a network of Iranian spies in the GCC states.
Such claims and counter claims stoke more tensions and fear in a region described as a powder keg with many matches stoking it from many directions. The real challenge for all the concerned players in the region and beyond is how to navigate the region away from the abyss which no one wants to fall in.
Dr Abdullah Al Shayji is Professor of International Relations and the Head of the American Studies Unit - Kuwait University.
It’s ok Granny and YOU’RE ON TOP OF IT otherwise I wouldn’t have known to pick it up without your ping.
I was somewhere else on the internet.
Officials: 5 killed in northern Lebanon explosion
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3603581,00.html
At least five killed, 25 wounded as car bomb explodes near bus carrying soldiers in northern city of Tripoli
Associated Press
Published: 09.29.08, 08:43 / Israel News
A car bomb exploded near a military bus carrying troops heading to their work in northern Lebanon Monday, killing at least five people and wounding 25, Lebanese security officials said.
The officials said most of the casualties were soldiers. It was the second deadly attack targeting troops in northern Lebanon in less than two months.
A senior military official told The Associated Press that three soldiers were among the dead, but had no breakdown of the number of injured among the troops.
The security officials said the car packed with explosives was parked on the side of the road and was detonated by remote control as the bus drove in the Bahsas neighborhood on the southern entrance to the northern port city of Tripoli.
They said the explosives used were mixed with metal balls to maximize casualties.
The blast, which tossed the car about a dozen meters, occurred during the morning rush hour, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Scene of attack (Photo: Reuters)
Television footage showed soldiers sealing off the area and preventing people from approaching the blast scene. The explosion shattered windows of cars parked in the area. Police forensic experts in plainclothes searched for evidence in the bus wreckage. Pieces of flesh were strewn on the road.
Tripoli has been rocked by sectarian fighting between pro-government Sunni fighters and pro-Syrian gunmen of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, that killed or wounded dozens in the summer before a truce was reached.
On August 13, a total of 18 soldiers and civilians were killed by a roadside bomb packed with nuts and bolts near a bus carrying troops on a busy Tripoli street. It was Lebanon’s deadliest bombing in more than three years.
Monday’s explosion came two days after a massive bombing in the capital of neighboring Syria killed 17 people and wounded 14. Syrian authorities on Monday said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber and that the vehicle came from a neighboring Arab country.
It did not identify the country. Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan border Syria. Syrian President Bashar Assad has recently warned of extremists operating in northern Lebanon and beefed up his border troops along that frontier in recent days.
No group has claimed responsibility for Syria’s explosion, the August bombing in Tripoli, or Monday’s attack.
Tripoli, about 50 miles (90 kilometers) north of Beirut on the Mediterranean coast, is a majority Sunni city and is Lebanon’s second-largest. The region there is known to be a strong base for Sunni militants.
In 2007, Lebanese troops fought Sunni militants of Fatah Islam group in a nearby Palestinian refugee camp. The three-month battle that left hundreds dead before the army crushed the militants.
Fatah Islam group claimed responsibility for a bomb blast that killed a soldier in Abdeh, near Tripoli, on May 31.
Sheik Daie al-Islam al-Shahal, founder of the fundamentalist Salafi Sunni movement in northern Lebanon, said Monday’s attack was part of the conflict among “external forces” in Lebanon, rejecting suggestions that Sunni militants were behind it.
“The false allegations and haste do not help stability and cause tensions,” said al-Shahal, Lebanon’s most powerful Salafist leader.
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