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Showing posts from April 24, 2016

God, the Right-Wing (and Left-Wing) Extremist

The Catechism  lists  four “sins that cry out to heaven” and it is a startling list if you think of it in terms of our political divisions. It is straight out of America’s culture wars: “right wingers” will read the list and see God condemning abortion and sexual immorality; “left-wingers” will read the list and see God condemning structural poverty and unfair labor practices. Here’s the list. First, the “blood of Abel” cries out to heaven. The Catechism explains by quoting Genesis  4:10  where the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground!” The sin here is murder — but St. John Paul makes the blood of Abel an icon of abortion in his encyclical  Evangelium Vitae,  saying that too often “threats to life arise within the relationship between parents and children, such as happens in abortion or when, in the wider context of family or kinship, euthanasia is encouraged or practiced” (No. 8). So if you are a die-hard, uncomp

Europe Needs Russia to Defeat Terrorism in Eurasia, Mideast - Ex-BND Head

Europe needs to overcome difficulties in relations with Moscow in the face of such serious global threats as terrorism both in Eurasia and the Middle East, August Hanning, ex-head of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND), said Wednesday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Deadly attacks in Europe staged by Islamists prompted EU authorities to step up security measures, enhance the exchange of information and seek international cooperation to tackle the threat of terrorism over the past year. "We are neighbors: Russia and Germany are neighbors and looking from the historical perspective, we had different times but today we have to do utmost to achieve peace in our neighborhood. By looking at the current situation, I think that we were not very successful in our Ostpolitik in Germany, Europe and Russia was not successful in its policy toward the West. We can argue about the reasons but these days we are facing very serious terrorist threats on the south of the continent and in the Mi

Russia, China could drive anti-terrorist struggle: CSTO chief

Russia, China and relevant regional bodies could become locomotives of an international coalition to combat terrorism, the chief of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) said Thursday. Nikolai Bordyuzha, secretary general of the organization, said "there is a need for consolidation among Russia and the CSTO member states, (as well as) China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which could become locomotives of the entire anti-terrorist struggle." He made the remarks at the fifth Moscow International Security Conference, reported the RIA Novosti news agency. Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Wednesday in his address to the conference that a broad international front under United Nations (UN) auspices be established, an idea he first proposed at the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly last year. Bordyuzha said that a network for interaction should be established in the first place among international organizations that specialize in s

Obama Stresses Need to Monitor Data in Fighting Terrorism

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BERLIN — The trans-Atlantic debate over digital privacy rights versus the surveillance needs of intelligence agencies was put under a spotlight on Monday, as  President Obama  called for continued access by law enforcement officials to thwart terrorism, while some European privacy advocates urged greater restraint. “I want to say this to young people who value their privacy and spend a lot of time on their phones: The threat of terrorism is real,” Mr. Obama said, speaking at a trade show  in Hanover,  Germany . “I’ve worked to reform our surveillance programs to ensure that they’re consistent with the rule of law and upholding our values, like privacy — and, by the way, we include the privacy of people outside of the United States,” he added. Mr. Obama’s message comes at a sensitive time, as cities like Brussels and Paris are still recovering from recent terrorist attacks. But his words are unlikely to slow down European efforts to expand people’s control over their digital liv

Europe vs. America: Comparing the Terrorism Threat

It didn’t take the Brussels bombings to convince most experts that the terrorist threat to Europe is greater than that to the U.S. homeland. The November 2015 Paris attacks, the January 2015  Charlie Hebdo  shootings, the 2014 Jewish Museum of Belgium shootings, and other attacks and plots in Europe indicate that Europe’s jihadist terrorism problem is greater than America’s in both frequency and intensity. No one factor explains the difference, but I’d compare the danger along several dimensions. The first to consider is simply the goals of the Islamic State, though this is ultimately unsatisfying. As I’ve argued  elsewhere , in contrast to Al Qaeda’s anti-U.S. emphasis, Islamic State leaders have primarily focused on their state-building project in Iraq and Syria. Developing  provinces in the Muslim world  is another goal. Although most Islamic State attacks still strike regional targets, attacks on the West have risen on the priority list,  particularly after the United States an

One-Third Of Iraqis Believe America Supports Terrorism

A U.S. State Department report found that the United States’ popularity in Iraq has plummeted over the course of a year. Nearly 1 in 3 Iraqis believe that America supports terrorism overseas. It’s just one of a handful of damning poll numbers showing waning United States-Iraqi relations as part of a U.S. State Department Inspector General’s Office evaluation of the American embassy in Baghdad. The report,  released online last week , used data compiled between October and November of last year. It found that 40 percent of Iraqis believe that the U.S. is “working to destabilize Iraq and control its natural resources.” Nearly one-third “believe that America supports terrorism in general or the Islamic State in Iraq.” The numbers mean the American embassy in Baghdad has a lot of work to do in terms of improving diplomatic relations. America’s popularity has plummeted since it reentered the country in 2014 to help Iraq battle the self-described Islamic State. The report states t

Corruption Currents: Islamic State Turns Fishmonger for Funds

A daily roundup of corruption news from across the Web. We also provide a daily roundup of important risk & compliance stories via our daily newsletter, The Morning Risk Report, which readers can sign up for  here .  Follow us on Twitter at @WSJRisk. Bribery: An Australian inquiry  will look at  a construction project after testimony from a former executive alleged bribery. (Sydney Morning Herald) Four former U.S. army officers were  acquitted  of bribery charges. (Washington Times) In local politics: Lawyers for a convicted New York State lawmaker  say  their client was only 12% corrupt. An arrested Cambodian official’s family said a payment was  charity , not a bribe. (NY Daily News, Phnom Penh Post) Money Laundering: India  asked the U.K.  to deport  Vijay Mallya , a business tycoon  under investigation for tax evasion and money laundering. Mr. Mallya  broke his silence  on the allegations. (BBC, NY Times) Financial Times) The Philippines anti-money laundering of

Peru Judge Allows Prosecutions for “Apology for Terrorism”

LIMA – A Peruvian judge will allow the prosecution of four members of the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights, or Movadef, under a law banning justification for terrorism, prosecutor Milko Ruiz told EFE on Thursday. Movadef is seen as the political arm of the Shining Path guerrilla group, which was defeated in the early 1990s, though isolated remnants remain active in some parts of Peru. The four defendants in the case, Alfredo Crespo, Manuel Fajardo, Oswaldo Esquivel, and Alberto Mego, are accused of publishing an article that included praise for jailed Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman. Judge Angel Mendivil agreed to accept the case after another court threw out the charges. Ruiz said the indictment is based on a piece that appeared in 2010 in a Movadef-linked publication which described Guzman as the leading Maoist thinker of the present. The prosecutor insisted that praise for Guzman, who stands convicted of terrorist offenses, is tantamount to praise for terrorism and,

China asks Indonesia to deport detained Uighur terror suspect

JAKARTA — China has asked Indonesia to deport a suspected Uighur terrorist detained here since December and alleged to have links with Islamic State, authorities said Thursday. "There was indeed a request from the Chinese embassy to deport a Uighur terrorist suspect currently under police detention," Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said in a media briefing. "We will see later whether we can meet their request after knowing his nationality," he said. The man, identified as Alli, was arrested by counterterrorism police in December for allegedly planning to launch terrorist attacks during Christmas and New Year celebrations. They said he had spent two months in Indonesian prior to his arrest before which time he was in Thailand and Malaysia. Earlier this month, the Indonesian government turned down a request from China to exchange a fugitive Indonesian tycoon for four Uighurs currently serving six-year jail terms each for terrorism-related convi

Root out jihadism to stop terrorism

As a Canadian Muslim I am horrified to learn of the tragic beheading of a fellow Canadian in the remote jungles of the Philippines. Like all other victims of Islamic extremism, John Ridsdel did nothing wrong. Indeed, he was a man who those close to him say was known for a spirit of generosity that included, but also went beyond, family and friends. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the worst time. Police in the southern city of Jolo made the gruesome discovery of a plastic bag containing a decapitated head, later identified as Ridsdel. The plight of the other three hostages, one Canadian, is as yet unknown, along with many others. The tragedy seemed to genuinely upset Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He said he was “outraged” by the “cold-blooded murder” of Ridsdel and he vowed to work with the government in the Philippines to obtain justice. Understandably, Trudeau did not divulge details of government efforts to do so, or to rescue the remaining Canadian hos

ANALYSIS | TERRORISM: AFTER HOSTAGE BEHEADING, IS PHILIPPINES FACING IS THREAT?

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Months before Abu Sayyaf militants beheaded retired Canadian mining executive John Ridsdel in the tropical jungles of the southern Philippines, they showed him pleading for life in a video with three other hostages that demanded a record-­high ransom. The scene was all too familiar in a Southeast Asian nation that has struggled with ransom kidnappings by the Islamic militants for years, except for two things. In the video that appeared in November, two black flags with Islamic State group symbols were displayed by the heavily armed Abu Sayyaf fighters in the backdrop of lush foliage. Then after a deadline for ransom lapsed on Monday, they killed the 68-year-old Ridsdel — instead of waiting patiently for the money as the mostly impoverished rural fighters have done in the past. Shocked by the outcome, many in the largest Roman Catholic nation in Asia are asking if this is the same band of militants the government has long dismissed as ransom-seeking bandits. Or, has the Philippines fa

ISIS hackers release hit list of 3,600 ordinary New Yorkers and urge terrorists to target them

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ISIS-linked hackers Caliphate Cyber Army have leaked the information of 3,000 New Yorkers A group of  ISIS  linked hackers have released an online hit list of 3,000 New York residents and urged terrorists to target them, it's been reported. Police have been making attempts to contact the individuals to inform them of the threat by Caliphate Cyber Army, which includes names, home and email addresses. The list reportedly targets government employees within the state department and security, but the details of regular people have also been leaked. Intelligence experts believe the 3,600 names may have been chosen at random because they are several years old, according to  ABC7 News . Federal agents and New York City police officers do not believe there is any credible threat, a source confirmed. CLICK TO PLAY Play 0:00 / 0:38 Fullscreen Mute Share Getty Police are making attempts to contact those aff