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Showing posts from May 29, 2011

Brash and violent: al-Qaida’s new mouthpieces

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Source: timesfreepress Hanif Qadir, a former extremist who now runs the Active Change Foundation, a de-radicalization project in London which works with young people at risk of embracing terrorism and people convicted of terrorists offenses, stands at the foundation's youth center in east London. In Britain, a controversial government project involving police and educators has identified 1,000 people, most under age 25 but some as young as 7-years-old, as vulnerable to the appeal of extremism — many of whom reguarly browse jihadist videos or websites. Youngsters swap imported extremist DVDs and clips of beheadings stored on their cellphones, and use SMS messages or Twitter to trade addresses for jihdaist websites, Qadir said.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) By DAVID STRINGER Associated Press LONDON — Even before Osama bin Laden’s death a month ago, a young generation of

Pakistan: 63 Die in Militant-Security Border Clash

Read more: foxnews PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Fighting between militants who crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan and attacked a Pakistani checkpoint killed 25 troops, three civilians and 35 insurgents, police said Thursday, in some of the deadliest clashes in recent months. The fighting, which began Wednesday and continued into Thursday, came as a top Pakistani general said the military plans to stage an operation against militants in a tribal region that juts deep inside Afghanistan, but denied media reports of an upcoming offensive in North Waziristan, the tribal area where the U.S. has been pushing for action. Pakistan's northwest border with Afghanistan has for years been a stomping ground for Islamist extremists, some of whom focus on attacks against Western forces across the border, some who attack the Pakistani state and others who plot terrorism against the West. Pakistan has taken action against militants in the northwest, but they have proved to be resilient.

Terror in Abyei

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The first interviews with fleeing residents of this Sudanese border town make one thing clear: the regime in Khartoum knows exactly what it is doing.  Source: Foreign policy SOUTH OF ABYEI, Sudan—"I heard a plane way up high and then 'Doom!', the sound of a bomb hitting the ground," explained Mary Ajiang Kur, 37. "My neighbor called out: 'The Arabs are coming!'" recalled Kur, who said she grabbed her children and hid in the bushes. Soon after, men arrived in her village, outside of Abyei town, the heart of a fertile, 4,000-square-mile area that straddles the provisional border between north and south Sudan.  They came first on motorbikes and then [Toyota] Landcruisers with guns mounted on them," said Kur. She remembers many of the men were wearing uniforms but said some were wearing civilian clothes. "They started firing towards us. Bullets were landing beside us. We saw people being killed." Now, Abyei town is eerily quiet. An

Think again: Dictators

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Arab autocrats may be tottering, 
but the world's tyrants aren't all quaking in their steel-toed boots.  BY GRAEME ROBERTSON | MAY/JUNE 2011 "Dictatorships are all about the dictator." Rarely, if ever. In the first months after the Arab revolutions began, the world's televisions were filled with instantly iconic images of a crumbling old order: the Ben Ali clan's seaside villa on fire in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak's stilted pre-resignation speeches in Egypt, Muammar al-Qaddafi's rambling, defiant diatribes from a bombed-out house in Libya. They were a reminder that one of the most enduring political archetypes of the 20th century, the ruthless dictator, had persisted into the 21st How persistent are they? The U.S. NGO Freedom House this year listed 47 countries as "not free" -- and ruled over by a range of authoritarian dictators. Their numbers have certainly fallen from the last century, which brought us quite a list:

UK developing cyber-weapons programme to counter cyber war threat

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Military to gain a new range of offensive options to defend critical installations around the country from cyber attacks Nick Hopkins , defence correspondent guardian.co.uk , Monday 30 May 2011 21.44 BST The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), above, is taking a lead role in developing cbyer-weapons programme. Photograph: Reuters The UK is developing a cyber-weapons programme that will give ministers an attacking capability to help counter growing threats to national security from cyberspace, the Guardian has learned. Whitehall officials have revealed that the UK needs to have a new range of offensive options, and not just bolster defences around the country's critical services and government departments, which regularly come un

Forget a cyber Maginot line

In this new dimension the west must act now to drive a global consensus on cyberspace security Nick Harvey guardian.co.uk , Monday 30 May 2011 22.00 BST The late JG Ballard once told the Guardian that in cyberspace "the entire human experience seems to unveil itself like the surface of a new planet". Whenever we log on we carry our essential human nature with us. Like people, cyberspace has a dark side and it is already shaping our future security environment. The openness of our society, our connectedness with the wider world and our hi-tech way of life is a source of strength. But openness also brings vulnerability. Threats do not just come from malicious viruses or organised criminals stealing people's identity or money

Pakistan's spymaster Hamid Gul: angel of jihad or windbag provocateur

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Osama bin Laden's death presents retired general with new opportunities for intrigue Declan Walsh in Rawalpindi guardian.co.uk , Tuesday 31 May 2011 18.30 BST Hamid Gul, 74, retired chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate and now a prominent pro-Taliban media commentator, at his office in Rawalpindi. Photograph: Declan Walsh Of the many dramas to grip Pakistan since the death of Osama bin Laden on 2 May, a cameo appearance by the country's most notorious spymaster had to be among the most intriguing. Last week Afghan intelligence put out a story that General Hamid Gul, a retired chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI), had been caught shunting the one-eyed Taliban leader

Yemen: a map ruled by conflict

The movement to oust Ali Abdullah Saleh may not be able to save Yemen from its long-exploited divisions Khaled Fattah guardian.co.uk , Tuesday 31 May 2011 23.00 BST Since the beginning of Yemen's popular uprising in February, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been putting into practice his skilful art of "dancing on the heads of snakes". On the domestic front, he first offered the protesters a number of concessions, but then withdrew them again . He then applied police and military repression as well as exploiting the deep fissures in Yemeni society. For the regional and international audience, Saleh waved his two warning cards: al-Qaida and civil war. Strategically located at the intersection of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and being perc

Bomb blasts rock Nigeria, 15 killed, 55 injured

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Source: Independentngonline •15 killed, 51 injured in Bauchi, Abuja •Another four seriously wounded in Zaria •Military vehicle targeted in Borno By Rotimi Akinwumi, Sola Shittu (Abuja), Abdulkareem Haruna (Maiduguri), Baba Negedu (Kaduna) and Patience Ogbodo (Bauchi)         One-year-old Chinecherem Nwoma, a victim of the bomb blasts, receiving treatment at Living Rock Hospital Zuba, Abuja ... on Monday.Photo: Jide Oyekunle . Terror fears materialised on Sunday night in co-ordinated bomb explosions in Abuja and other parts of the North, taking 15 lives and leaving 55 injured, a few hours after Goodluck Jonathan was inaugurated President amid tight security. Thirteen died and 40 were injured in Bauchi, two died and 11 were injured in Abuja. Four were severely injured in Zaria, with Boko Haram , the fundamentalist Islamic sect, bombing a military patrol vehicle in one attack in Maiduguri. Abuja suffered bomb blasts on October 1 last year. Bauchi and Maiduguri were