Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Thursday's Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.
TOP TOPICS
- The Straits Times reports that Jemaah Islamiyah is planning another attack in Indonesia this year that could be as devestating as the Bali bombing. They base this on a document allegedly written by a JI operative, and believed to be authentic by a senior Indonesian counter-terror official.
- Newsweek looks at the terror-brokers who liased between Bin Laden and Zarqawi.
- Jalal Talabani - Iraq's new interim president.
- Well, well, well, what have we here?? Damn good question. I hope Spain, and maybe a few foreign intelligence agencies, are starting to ask it.
- Israeli security services are concerned that SAMs smuggled in to Gaza by the PLO might be used to shoot down commercial airliners.
- The EU says that their trade agreement with Syria is conditional on a full withdrawal from Lebanon.
Other Topics Today Include: Iran-EU shenanigans; Canada shows spine; PLO police recruit suicide bombers; IDF prepares for new terror war; Hamas-Hezbollah accord; Syria builds intel network in Lebanon; new A-Q beheading video; Saudi cleric offers slavery instead of death after MEMRI exposure; 14 terrorists killed in Saudi Arabia; U.S. holds WMD attack plotter; Pentagon produces pessimistic study for Bush doctrine; Dutch court acquits terrorist despite obvious; Iraqis in Sweden charged with aiding Zarqawi; Albania worried about Salafis; 100 kilos of Semtex found in France; tension in North Ossetia; Kashmir bus complex attacked; Chinook crash kills 16 Americans; police officer behind church attacks in Indonesia; GSPC moves east; and much more.
IRAN
- France says their talks with Iran are fragile, but progressing.
- An earlier report that Iran had agreed to suspend uranium enrichment has been denied by the Iranian chief negotiator.
- The U.S. has slammed Iran in a human rights report.
- Khatami has asked the U.S. to drop their opposition to Iran's nuclear program.
- Canada has pulled out of a conference on "Doing Business with Iran" to protest the brutal rape, torture and murder of a Canadian citizen at the hands of Iranian authorities
THE MIDDLE EAST
- PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas has invited all terrorists wanted by Israel to join the various PA 'police forces'.
- Yediot Aharanot says that IDF central command believes that another terrorist campaign will come soon after the retreat from Gaza, launched from Judea and Samaria against the coastal towns and cities.
- Engage - For a Secure Israel - a new group blog posting news about the proposed 'disengagement' plan.
- The IDF says that Hezbollah has reduced its pressure on palestinian terrorists to murder people, due to the internal politics in Lebanon. Other military sources say Hezbollah is looking to step up attacks in the immediate-term.
- Hamas and Hezbollah has signed an accord.
- Lebanese troops have taken over a key checkpoint from Syrian troops.
- This article used to be about Lebanese, Israeli and Western sources alleging that Syria is setting up a larger intelligence network in Lebanon. I guess you'll have to take my word for it. But Syria moving missiles and radar is good news.
- Syria has reacted to the UN report in to the Hariri murder.
- Lebanese police have pulled over Syrian police officers for having tinted windows, banned since the withdrawal began last month. The vehicle was owned by the Lebanese Army...
IRAQ AND THE HIJAZ
- A new al-Qaeda video showing the horrendous murder of an Iraqi soldier has been posted on the Internet
- An Iraqi official says al-Qaeda is behind a plan to launch attacks on Shia mosques and leaders.
- Be sure to check the Carnival of the Liberated.
- More fighting in Yemen has claimed 30 lives.
- MEMRI's exposure of a Jew-hating rant from another Saudi cleric has given him cause to offer dhimmitude instead of death.
- As many as 14 terrorists have been killed in gun battles with Saudi police.
- Syria says the Iraqi government was lying when it showed the confessions of two alleged Syrian intelligence officials.
THE AMERICAS
- The U.S. is claiming that an Iraqi held at Gitmo plotted with Iraqi intelligence to attack American and other embassies in Pakistan with chemical weapons. There's no public record of such an attempt.
- Several prominent senators have called on the U.S. government to limit arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
- The U.S. has started its largest anti-terror drill.
- A Pentagon study has concluded that Muslims do not yearn for freedom, as did Europeans in the USSR.
EUROPE
- Elementary school teachers in a Dutch school are warning of the radicalism of their Muslim pupils.
- A Dutch court has acquitted a teenage Muslim of plotting terrorist attacks. Azzouz had been in custody since June 2004, when police found detailed maps of Parliament, the Intelligence Service, Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and a nuclear reactor at his home. [...] A nationwide terror alert, which lasted for several weeks, was put in place after police found the maps, apparent bomb-making supplies and notes on how to attack buildings. Investigators also found a pellet gun, ammunition clips and a silencer for automatic weapons, night vision goggles and a bulletproof vest at Azzouz's home.
- Turkey is seeking life for a man who planned to crash an explosives-packed aircraft in to a meeting of political and military leaders.
- Two Iraqis in Sweden have been charged with aiding Zarqawi.
- Al-Qaeda in the Bosnia war. You might not like the conclusions, but the information is interesting nonetheless.
- 100 kilos of Semtex have been found in a truck in northern France. The police suspect criminal motives.
- In North Ossetia, things are tense between Muslim communities and authorities.
- I'm putting this in Europe, but it would fit just as easily in the 'America' section: The Barriers Come Down: Antisemitism and Coalitions of Extremes.
ASIA & AUSTRALASIA
- The Kashmir busline mentioned last Monday? The housing complex where the passengers were protected was attacked by terrorists. Thankfully, the only dead are two terrorists. Seven civilians and a policeman were wounded, but the bus service will go ahead.
- A so-called "U.S. spy" has been shot dead in North Waziristan.
- A Chinook has crashed in Afghanistan, killing sixteen Americans. The military believes bad weather, rather than enemy fire, caused the crash.
- Five Shi'ite terrorists have been arrested and an arms cache discovered in Karachi.
- A senior police officer has been connected to a string of attacks on churches in Indonesia.
- A Filipino patrol boat searching for kidnapped crew members killed two gunmen who fired on them.
- Nine Afghan policemen were killed after the Taliban stormed a government building in the south of the country.
- Afghanistan's government has accused aid agencies of corruption and squandering aid money.
- In Kashmir, seven terrorists and a politician were killed.
AFRICA
- The GSPC have attacked another military patrol, killing four soldiers and security guards.
- According to this, the GSPC are relocating to the Middle East.
- Libyan Islamists are under pressure.
- African Muslim Groups are protesting Arab rule and expansion in Africa.
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Here, BION, is a quote from the Guardian: I am mystified by the reluctance of the left both in the US and the UK (the Guardian 's coverage, for example) to criticise Annan's leadership.
Azzouz seems to like jail
The first thing he did as a free man was attacking a photographer
"A Pentagon study has concluded that Muslims do not yearn for freedom, as did Europeans in the USSR."
Although the Middle East Newsline blurb is new, the report is not. The report was released in November 2004 and was covered by The New York Times, among others, at the time.
Since then, we've had elections in Afghanistan and Iraq, tsunami relief efforts that moved public opinion in Indonesia, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese taking to the streets of Beirut to demand Syrian withdrawal, etc. In light of those events, reliance on Zogby polls and the foggy groupthink from the folks at Foggy Bottom doesn't seem all that impressive, does it?
Title and article don't really match.
The people in Eastern Europe didn't expect that freedom would come from Moscow just as the people in the Middle East don't expect that it comes from Washington.
"There is no yearning-to-be-liberated-by-the-U.S. groundswell among Muslim societies -- except to be liberated perhaps from what they see as apostate tyrannies that the U.S. so determinedly promotes and defends."
So they want to choose their own goverment, that is the only freedom the Eastern Europeans won, it is a really big one as the right to start businesses etc. follow from them. It does mean that they will loose rights that are not in accordance with their religion as the new leaders will be much more religious but that happened also in Eastern Europe.