IRAN

• Iran says they will never scrap their nuclear program.

• Iran wants to speed up their talks with the EU-3 to the point where the Iranians get their money. Europe says no. Javier Solana's spokeswoman says the process is "on the right track". For whom, exactly?

• The Iranians have been using the Mediterranean to keep Hezbollah supplied.

• Iran's ambassador to Moscow says Russian-Iranian military co-operation is developing. About which...

• ...more here. A Russian paper reports that Russia will launch Iran's [cough] scientific spy-satellites in to orbit.

THE MIDDLE EAST

• Abu Mazen has snubbed an Egyptian request to apologise for the celebrations in the territories in the aftermath of Sadat's death.

• The Danish-Lebanese arrested in Israel on suspicion of various terror-related crimes has been arrested as a spy for Hezbollah.

• The IDF has denied a report that thousands of reservists are to be trainedup, to free up active duty soldiers to expel the Jews from Gaza.

• President Bush has pledged to waste a further $350 million by giving it to the PA.

• One of the few MKs worth listening to says Israel must develop tactical missiles, to match the threat posed by Syrian and Egyptian surface-to-surface missiles. He also said that Egyptis still preparing for war with Israel.

• Egypt is hunting bad guys in the Sinai mountains, men who they say are responsible for the Red Sea resort bombings. The Egyptian army has killed one person.

• Israel will allow Egypt to move armour, special forces and heavy weapons in eastern Sinai - in order to fight arms smugglers. Make sure to read the IMRA commentary.

• Condi says no state, no peace.

IRAQ AND THE GULF

• Jihadists used a teenager with the mind of a four-year old to conduct a suicide bombing on election day in Iraq.

• Four more jihadis have been killed in Kuwait.

• Saudi Arabia's intelligence arm is a 'critical problem', according to a U.S. think-tank.

THE AMERICAS

• Last night, Bush referred to Iran as the world's primary sponsor of terrorism.

• An al-Qaeda-linked member of the Saudi air force, arrested last year by the FBI, had trained with the USAF.

• The U.S. is working with Syria to halt the flow of money to terrorists.

• Undersecretary for Defence Douglas Feith has led a delegation to Pakistan to discuss the war on terror and arms sales.
  

EUROPE

• Al-Takfir wa al-Hijra, considered more dangerous than al-Qaeda, has taken root in the U.K..

• A British-based charity that provides between a fifth and a sixth of Hamas's budget is still operating in the open.

• The British government will place terror suspects under house-arrest, rather than imprison them.

• Russian forces can now be deployed in counter-terror operations all over the world.

• Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov has ordered a ceasefire for February as a 'sign of goodwill'.

• Russian authorities have arrested a man suspected of involvement in the Beslan massacre in Ingushetia.

• Chechen jihadis say that an explosion that killed nine policemen was a suicide car bombing.

• Russian authorities believe that terrorists murdered a Chechen mufti associated with the pro-Russian administration.

• A mosque in an old factory, in a quiet German town on the Danube, is apparently a centre of jihadism.

• Also in Germany, a Saudi-funded Koranic school is being looked at by German intelligence after discovering that a staff-member's son in law had volunteered for a suicide bombing in Iraq. That sounds a little less weak an excuse when you consider that teachers call for holy war against the Christian world, and the source of the money.

• Imams in France will be given French lessons.

• A Moroccan connected to the 3/11 attack has been picked up in Belgium.

ASIA & AUSTRALASIA

• Musharraf says that foreign investment will help fight terrorism.

• The Australian parliament has been told that al-Qaeda still considers Australia to be fair game. The article also mentions that the United Nations doesn't list palestinian Islamic Jihad as a terrorist organisation...

• Abu Bakar Bashir says the Bali bombings were not jihad. Yet he referred to the men who did it as jihadists. Huh.

• In Kashmir, seven civilians were killed by terrorists on January 31st. In one incident, the brave men of LeT threw hand-grenades in to a house when the door was not answered, killing a mother and three children.

• Filipino police believe that 23 Indonesian JI members are hiding out in Mindanao.

• The Filipino government is warning of attacks by 'extremists' intended to disrupt the peace process, and presumably weaken the 'moderates'. Oslo redux in the Phillipines?

• More ceasefire news. Because of the links between MILF, and JI and Abu Sayyaf, the Filipino military is finding it difficult to strike the latter. Why? Because the terms of the agreement says that the military must inform MILF when they are going to launch attacks on 'their' territory. So MILF tips of their terrorist buddies. So the answer to the above question is 'yes'.

AFRICA

• This analysis sums up al-Qaeda's plans for Africa as follows: Terrorise, Divide, Seize

And finally...

• You'll probably have heard that one of our brave GI Joes was captured in Iraq. The same source has reported that President Bush has captured Osama. In response, The Army of Eternal Jihad have taken four football players hostage. Galloway's RESPECT coalition has organised a protest already (seriously, check the URL - that's from their website).

Thanks for reading! If you found something here you want to blog about yourself (and we hope you do), all we ask is that you do as we do and offer a Hat Tip hyperlink to today's "Winds of War". If you think we missed something important, use the Comments section to let us know.