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.
Today's Winds of War briefing is brought to you by evariste of Discarded Lies.
Top Topics
- The main planks of Tony Blair's antiterrorist platform. Which he'll need, as his intelligence chiefs are warning him that Britain faces an Islamic insurgency at home, too. Meanwhile, The Sunday Times goes undercover in an academy of hatred.
- California is overhauling its domestic intelligence apparatus, and California's Office of Homeland Security is training private security guards in counterterrorism. Meanwhile, a top California state National Guard commander is accused of trying to set up a renegade intelligence collection system, drawing much controversy.
- Intelligence, Homeland Security-now the State Department is next in line for a major overhaul as the Bush administration seeks to reshape government for the present and future challenges facing the nation. State will move away from its Cold War obsessions, toward a focus on weapons proliferators and terrorists. Its democracy promotion muscle is also to be beefed up.
- India and China are burying the hatchet: an old border dispute has been resolved and the two countries are looking forward to increased trade and investment, as well as a space exploration partnership. And yet, China is engaging in an unprecedented buildup of its capability to wage war on India at the same time.
Other Topics Today Include: Ahmadinejad gets snubbed, snubs back; Egyptian torture; AIPAC lobbyists charged; Revolution ain't coming to Iran; FBI's translation backlog swells; unwelcome customs laxity; Mauritania coup; Jaish e Mo to hijack jet; India to fence off Banglia; Aus. to join UK, France in terror-preacher eviction measures; Chechnya jihad on Wahhabis; Aus. and Canada want to sell uranium to China; 7 in 10 Guantanamites to be repatriated; Binnie large and in charge sez old pal; the Saudis Knew! and much more...
THE MIDDLE EAST & IRAN
- India follows Russia in refusing to invite Iran's new President, Ahmadinejad, for a state visit. Interesting.
- In Egypt, it's still considered unclear who exactly was behind the Sharm el Sheikh bombings. You can theorize as long as you want (Israel did it seems to be popular), but don't suggest it was Al Qaeda, heavens no.
- Turkey foiled a Turkish al Qaeda cell's plot to mass-murder Israeli holidayers in Alanya, Turkey. Four Israeli cruise ships turned home as a result of the threat, aborting their trips to the southwestern port city.
- Kurdish rebels killed five Turkish soldiers with a rocket attack. The rebels have been staging increasingly bold attacks from northern Iraq.
- Sworn in just Wednesday, new Iranian president Ahmadinejad is off to a roaring start, insisting on Iran's right to restart aspects of its nuclear program and rejecting the EU's latest proposal. Iran may go to the Security Council, which means nothing thanks to Russia's seat.
AMERICAN DOMESTIC SECURITY & THE AMERICAS
AFRICA
- After a military coup, the new dictators of Mauritania are seeking to assuage US and French concerns-they're probably worried we're going to depose them. But immediately freeing jailed Islamists is a hell of a way to assuage our concerns.
ASIA
- Jaish e Mohammad is planning to hijack a passenger jet to pressure India to release an imprisoned terrorist comrade.
- India has decided to go ahead and fence off Bangladesh. That's a 4000 kilometer border we're talking about.
- North Korea is refusing to completely destroy its nuclear program under any circumstances, insisting it is not a defeated nation.
- India and Pakistan have agreed to notify each other when they conduct ballistic missile tests to reduce the possibility of inadvertent nuclear war.
EUROPE
- Tony Blair announced that Hizb ut Tahrir and Al Muhajiroun's successor organization are now banned in the UK. He also delimited anticipated domestic reforms that allow summary deportation of extremists.
THE GLOBAL WAR
- Read this wide-ranging interview with Ariel Cohen, author of Eurasia in Balance and Russian Imperialism: Development and Crisis at Security Watchtower.
- Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen are the subject of US negotiations to transfer custody of 70% of the inmates at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Afghanistan has already agreed to house its share of the detainees.
- An intimate look at the jihadist cyberworld from the Washington Post.
- The Saudis are claiming to have warned MI5 and MI6 of the terror threat ahead of the London bombings. It also appears that there was Saudi funding for some of the bombers.
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Anyone interested in further information about "Eurasia in Balance" by Dr. Ariel Cohen can view a press release of the book that features all the authors speaking. It runs about 1 hour and 20 minutes, but it's a pretty interesting look at Central Asia and the dynamics involved there.
http://multimedia.heritage.org/content/allison-062905.ram
Thanks for the link to the interview.
Great briefing, ev. Hope you're feeling better.
Concur...excellent briefing, ev. There's practically a day's worth of reading in there and some sources I have not yet seen on topics I was familiar with.
I cannot find enough information to satisfy regarding the Iranian shaped charges being used in Iraq.
I am confident those who need to know are sure of thier origins without much doubt. the questin remains: What are we going to do about it?
Can anyone recomend a good blog to keep up-to-date on Mauritania ? Present company excepted, of course.
Colt, USMC_Vet-thanks for the praise! Colt, yes, much better :-) It was just a 24-hour stomach bug.
Looking at the news about California reminds me that last week MSNBC Connected program(Nixon's blonde;Reagan's son)interviewed the police chief of Seattle and a former Chief of Police of Israel. The issue was that Seattle on its on went looking for advice on how to combat terrorism in the city. Doesn't this and California's action strike people as dwonright wrong? We are at war and that means the federal government has an obligation to provide domestic security. I think so anyway. The point being you want a systematic approach across the country, not ad hoc efforts by each local authority, BEFORE there is an terrorist attack not afterwards. I can not wonder why it is being approached in such a piecemeal manner.
Robert:
To wait around for troops and memos of guidance is to shirk one's responsibility to one's own community.
I ahve no idea what individual plan the Chief of Police from Seattle has chosen or is considering. However, unless that path is awaiting approval from CAIR or the ACLU, I'd say that this Police Chief showed more than a little good ol' American initiative.
Praise him.
Period.