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
- Three British men have been indicted for plotting WMD attacks on financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington D.C.
- Prime Minister Sharon and Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz have told a Knesset committee that they envision 4,000 Egyptian soldiers patrolling the Israel-Egypt border.
- Spanish police have arrested a man who allegedly helped buy the explosives used in the Madrid train bombings. In other 3/11 news, 11 Pakistanis have been arrested for funding al-Qaeda cells, including Mohammed the Egyptian, as well as Amjad Farooki (believed responsible for the Daniel Pearl murder).
Other Topics Today Include: Iran denies uranium smuggling; IRGC seethes; Germany's biggest trade partner; Cairo bomber's family arrested; Hezbollahland; Karami quits against; Hamas terror mall; A-Q leaders nabbed in Baghdad; LAX bomber spills the beans; CAIR-founder funded terrorism; Bourgass trained in poisons in Afghanistan; BND thinks A-Q have radiological weapons; MILF A-Q links don't matter; Taliban caught; UN approves treaty; and more.
IRAN
- Iran has denied smuggling processed uranium from a monitored site.
- The head of the I.R.G.C. says the U.S. and Israel pose a threat to the Islamic regime in Iran.
- Speaking of the Satans, Sharon says Israel has no plans to attack Iran. Or did he?
THE MIDDLE EAST
- The Cairo bomber has been named, and three members of his family have been arrested. An earlier report I came across said the bomb was a glass bottle full of nails and petrol, but that was a local policeman. Two Egyptian government sources thus far say the bomb was three kilos of TNT in a bag of nails.
- Hezbollah has asked for French mediation in Lebanon. The terrorist group called France a 'friend'.
- Karami has quit again, having failed to form a government. The Washington Post reports that almost all Iranian troops have pulled out of Lebanon.
- Israeli forces have seized rifles and ammunition en route to Gaza, from Egypt and P.A.-controlled Jericho respectively.
- Turkey is continuing the rapprochement with Syria, in spite of U.S. objections.
IRAQ AND THE GULF
- John R Bradley says that the House of Saud is re-embracing totalitarianism, citing the regime's reaction to an uprising in the al-Jouf province. He also notes the talk on jihadi websites about the vulnerability of Saudi oil pipelines.
- U.S. forces have captured several senior A-Q leaders in a raid in Baghdad.
- A joint U.S.-Italy investigation has cleared U.S. forces of wrong-doing in the shooting of an Italian intelligence agent and a journalist.
- Twin-car bombs in Baghdad have killed 18 people, and Ansar al-Sunna have released a video of a captured American contractor.
- Al-Qaeda are attacking U.S. bases in Iraq in large numbers. And predictably enough, it isn't working well for them.
THE AMERICAS
- The Algerian who planned to blow up LAX has given information on 100 terrorists to U.S. intelligence.
- Dr. Gal Luft says al-Qaeda wants to destroy the U.S. economy.
- A co-founder of the Council for American-Islamic Relations and two of his brothers have been found guilty of sending money to a senior Hamas terrorist. That one of the guilty was a CAIR founder is not mentioned by AP.
- The U.S. is declassifying documents so Germany can try Mounir al-Motassadeq, convicted of involvement in the 9/11 attacks.
EUROPE
- Kamel Bourgass recieved poisons training in Afghanistan, according to an Algerian terrorist.
- The man who killed Theo van Gogh has broken his silence in a court hearing. He urged the prosecutor to be "more nuanced and professional"
- The chief of the German BND has said that al-Qaeda 'probably' has radiological weapons, and when asked about A-Q having Sarin, anthrax or plague, he said 'maybe'. He also criticised the way the U.S. has fought the war on terror.
- An Islamic preacher in the U.K. has told Muslims to rob banks as a part of jihad.
- Switzerland has agreed to extradite a man believed to have plotted to bomb the Spanish supreme court.
ASIA & AUSTRALASIA
- Afghan president Hamid Karzai says Kabul wants a long-term security relationship with the United States.
- MILF being connected to al-Qaeda shouldn't make peace talks with the Phillipines difficult, says Malaysia.
- Four jihadis have been killed in J&K by Indian security forces.
- A court in Pakistan has granted bail for 40 members of Jamaat-i-Islami JI workers granted bail.
- Human Rights Watch says that terrorism is being used as an excuse by Chinese authorities to crush the Muslim minority living in western China.
TRANSNATIONAL
- The UN has approved a treaty against nuclear terrorism.
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(Apologies for the late briefing.)
Oh, a UN Treaty against nuclear terrorism. I guess we can all stop worrying, then.
To bad they don't have a treaty against internal corruption.....
"The Washington Post reports that almost all Iranian troops have pulled out of Lebanon."
I didn't realize that Iran had troops in Lebanon, unless we're just being really frank about Syria's relationship with Iran. Or, have I missed something kinda important?
Peyton,
Iran has long had troops in the Bekaa Valley. They're mostly there in a training and facilitating role for Hezbollah and other terrorist groups. They mostly come from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, rumoured to be sheltering most of the remaining A-Q leadership.
Germany's biggest Middle East trade partner is Iran.
Shock, horror. German trades more with Iran, which has a bigger population than Syria, lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen & Oman combined. What else would you expect?
Colt is right, I recall reading about Iranian Revolutionary Guard units in the Beka'a and that some al Qaeda & Hezbollah operatives had been trained by them.
This is from Globalsecurity.org:
The Qods (Jerusalem) Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is responsible for extraterritorial operations, including terrorist operations. A primary focus for the Qods Force is training Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups. Currently, the Qods Force conducts training activities in Iran and in Sudan. The Qods Force is also responsible for gathering information required for targeting and attack planning. The Pasdaran has contacts with underground movements in the Gulf region, and Pasdaran members are assigned to Iranian diplomatic missions, where, in the course of routine intelligence activities they monitor dissidents. Pasdaran influence has been particularly important in Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.
The largest branch of Pasdaran foreign operations consists of approximately 12,000 Arabic speaking Iranians, Afghans, Iraqis, Lebanese shi’ites and North Africans who trained in Iran or received training in Afghanistan during the Afghan war years. Presently these foreign operatives receive training in Iran, Sudan and Lebanon, and include the Hizballah ["Party of Allah"] intelligence, logistics and operational units in Lebanon [Hizballah is primarily a social and political rather than military organization]. The second largest Pasdaran foreign operations relates to the Kurds (particularly Iraqi Kurds), while the third largest relates to the Kashmiri’s, the Balouchi’s and the Afghans. The Pasdaran has also supported the establishment of Hizballah branches in Lebanon, Iraqi Kurdistan, Jordan and Palestine, and the Islamic Jihad in many other Moslem countries including Egypt, Turkey, Chechnya and in Caucasia. Hizballah has been implicated in the counterfeiting of U.S. dollars and European currencies, both to finance its operations and to disrupt Western economies by impairing international trade and tourism.
Source: http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/iran/qods.htm
An embargo because of their overt sponsorship of terrorism?
Unlike the DDR it doesn't support terrorisme in Germany. Germany didn't embargo the DDR back then so why would they embargo Iran now? Besides every somewhat significant power supports terrorisme when it suots them so that doesn't leave many countries where they could export to and can you imagine Germany without exporting.
a:
I get the impression that you're arguing that it is good that Germany has been consistently spineless. Is that right?
I wouldn't call standing up to the US spineless.
Right, 'cause the consequences have been devestating thus far.
I guess we couldn't ask for a clearer demonstration that you think it is more admirable to stand up to the U.S. than to the mullah's terrorist regime.
Colt, the problem with embargo's is that they don't work. They allow the goverment to say that it isn't their fault that it is going shitty but that it is because of the embargo. That is why Castro still rules Cuba and Cuba doesn't export oil which is very hard to embargo.