Al-Shabab's War on Women
19 Nov 09 - A so-called Islamic court set up by al-Qaeda ally al-Shabab have executed another young woman by stoning in Somalia, the fourth in recent months.
Accused of 'adultery', the 20-year-old woman was buried up to her waist in a public square and murdered with large stones.
Her 30-year-old alleged lover received 100 lashes from the self-appointed moral guardians.
A woman similarly executed in Kismayo recently turned out to have been a 13-year-old girl who had been raped.
In related news, the European Union will train and arm 6000 militias to fight insurgents and form the core of a Somali national army, seen as the only way to stabilize the country.
An EU naval force already patrols waters off the Somali coast in order to suppress piracy.
ISI Role in Hit Suspected
03 Sep 09 - The Taliban have murdered over 23 people at the opening of a mosque in order to assassinate Afghanistan's formidable Deputy Intelligence Chief, Dr Abdullah Laghmani.
Striking far from their usual haunts at Mehterlam, 60 miles east of Kabul, the Taliban have claimed sole responsibility for the suicide bomber's 'targeted' attack.
However, M K Bhadrakumar, India’s former Ambassador in Afghanistan, says that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been stalking Dr Laghmani for a decade, as he had often frustrated their plans to interfere in his native Eastern region.
Story Coverage on Mashget
>
Fmr. Ambassador Accuses ISI
>
Insurgency Finished - Authorities
31 Aug 09 - No longer able to mount coherent military operat-ions, the Taliban in Pakistan are resorting to al-Qaeda-in-Iraq-style tactics in a last-ditch attempt to intimidate the people of Swat, now returning home in thousands.
A suicide bomber entered a busy police depot in the strategic city of Mingora in NW Pakistan on Sunday, blowing himself up along with at least 18 police recruits.
The man, who was disguised as a police recruit, jumped over a wall at the compound and blew himself up as about 50 to 75 newly-recruited officers were training, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister of the North West Frontier Province, told CNN.
On Saturday, the Army killed six militants in raids on their bases in the Swat town of Charbagh.
Authorities received intelligence from locals that suicide attackers and terrorist masterminds were using the area as a safe haven to launch attacks in other Valley towns, including Mingora.
Authorities say the Taliban is now 'finished' in Pakistan, and some desperate attacks of this nature must be expected.
Full Coverage - CNN
>
Gaza women forced into old garb
30 Aug 09 - Dozens of Palestinian intellectuals have signed a petition against Hamas' decision to oblige women in Gaza to wear traditional dress and to forbid men from teaching at girls' schools.
The petition states that these measures are a fundamentalist invention that has nothing to do with religion.
The signatories called on the Ministry of Religious Endowments to foster instead a religious discourse that encourages tolerance, and to not allow extremists to use mosques to foment hatred and division.
Ex-President Survives Ambush
14 Aug 09 - Former Afghan President Berhanuddin Rabbani has survived a Taliban ambush in northern Afghanistan.
Afghan police say Taliban fighters attacked Mr. Rabbani's convoy with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire Thursday in the Ali Abad district of Kunduz province.
They say no one in the convoy was hurt, but the attackers suffered casualties in a battle with bodyguards and police.
Mr. Rabbani is a supporter of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah - a main challenger to incumbent President Hamid Karzai in elections on August 20.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on Mr. Rabbani. The militants have vowed to disrupt the vote.
Afghan News on VOA
>
and ABC >
"Hundreds of Foreign Fighters"
22 Jun - Latest Reuters video
17 Jun 09 - Mogadishu's police chief, Colonel Ali Said, was killed as government forces attacked insurgent bases in the Somali capital.
Heavy gunfire shook the Hodan area in south Mogadishu. Recent fighting has seen 250 killed and 120,000 displaced, says the UN.
A combined force of radical Islamic militants, including al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda, has been trying to topple the fragile UN-backed government for three years.
Chief Said's death will be a setback as he was often on the front line encouraging his colleagues to defend their positions, said the BBC's Will Ross.
A moderate Islamist president took office in January but even his introduction of Sharia law to the strongly Muslim country has not appeased the guerrillas.
Source - BBC World News
>
18-06-09 - Somali Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden has been killed in a suicide car bomb attack north of the capital Mogadishu, witnesses and officials say.
Somali diplomats were also reportedly among more than 20 people killed in the blast at a hotel in Beledweyne.
Source - BBC World News
>The Lads - All About al-Shabab
>
Imperial Hubris Led to Tragedy
05 Jul 09 - A demonstration over a murder investigation has turned to ugly ethnic rioting in Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang in China.
The Moslem-majority Chinese province has seen a long term campaign by the Beijing government to 'fully integrate' the 'autonomous' region into China.
This has included a policy of moving Han-origin Chinese families into the region to change its ethnic balance and systematic suppression of Uighur language and Islamic practice.
China State media says the death toll is 140 and still climbing, with some 800 people injured. Hundreds have been arrested and more are being sought by the authorities.
AP Report - Baker City Herald
>
Latest - Urumqi Twitter Feed
>
China State Media Video Report >
Coverage - Progressive Realist >
al-Qaeda Pawns Infil Rebel Rump
19-06-09 - Islamist militants have killed 24 Algerian paramilitary policemen near Mansoura, east of the capital, say local papers. The convoy was escorting Chinese workers for a highway project.
The attackers planted two IEDs on the road 200km (124 miles) east of the capital, Algiers, then opened fire on the convoy as the explosives went off.
The insurgents are said to have escaped taking weapons and six off-road vehicles.
A local official told AP the workers had not yet joined the convoy when it was atacked.
Algerian authorities have made no official comment on the attack, and calls to the Chinese consulate in Algeria were not answered.
CBS News - AP coverage
>
BBC World News coverage
>
Thirty Years Before the Bust
06 Jun 09 - A retired US State Department employee and his wife have been charged with spying for the Cuban Government for more than thirty years.
Walter Kendall Myers, and his wife, Gwendoline Myers (who did not work for State) were charged with communicating classified information to a foreign government (spying) and with wire fraud.
In latter years Myers, who retired in 2007, worked for the ultra-sensitive Research & Intelligence section of the State Department, from whence he passed on some 200 documents to the Cubans.
FBI agents, complete with Cuban cigars, tricked Myers into spilling the beans. They allege Mr and Mrs Myers were known to their Cuban controllers as "Agent 202" and "Agent 123" respectively.
Source: BBC - ABC News Radio
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Raft & Gardner
Whistle Stop - 1946
Go to Top
;
Hello World
Welcome to the Bureau
22 Nov 2009 -
Hello everybody. You know, once upon a time, I was interested in the way media and black operations cross-pollinated in the 20th century, by how you can cross-check certain clues in the past and so on. But, boy, have I changed my views! I don't do that any more! Take my advice, don't go there, girlfriend!
Stick to safer topics such as corporate power, organized crime, totalitarianism, censorship and
propaganda!
This site has some great stories, well-researched, stirring stuff. Some of the books might qualify as fiction, though... whoops, there I go again. Brrrr! It's cold out here!
So, if you want a truly exclusive experience of spec-ops info from a 'gonzo' perspective, swing by littlefriends.s5.com. It's so hard to find, it actually rates *above* Top Secret! Go figure!
Cross-post adapted courtesy INFORMANTNEWS.COM
Keys to the Kingdom
Senator calls for Scientology probe
18 Nov 2009 -
Independent Australian Senator Nick Xenophon has called for a parliamentary inquiry into Scientology. Speaking in the Federal Parliament earlier today, Senator Xenophon (right) said that Scientology, which operates as a religious organization with tax-exempt status in Australia, was a not really a church, but a "criminal organization" that "defrauds, blackmails and falsely imprisons".Nick Xenophon
The Church of Scientology responded sharply to the senators remarks. Spokeman Cyrus Brookes said Scientology was accepted as a religion around the world, and that the senator was acting under pressure from former scientologists, who were "about as reliable as former spouses". The senator had turned down the church's requests for a meeting, he said.
He said Scientology had a mailing list of some 250,000 persons in Australia, but far fewer active members.
Tax-exempt status was a "hallmark of a non-profit benevolent organization based on a religious purpose," Mr Brookes remarked. He said he could not make an estimate of the church's annual income in Australlia.
Scientology was founded by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s. It contains elements similar to Buddhist teachings, modern psychology and science-fiction.
The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, is reported to be giving Senator Xenophon's initiative serious consideration.
Source - ABC NEWS RADIO - Speech in THE AGE - [PERMALINK]
Sky Spy flew too high
Space Pioneer on Espionage Charges
01 Nov 2009 07:30 AEDT -
Phillip Nozette, 52, a gifted scientist and technical innovator, played a key role in UShi-tech research at the highest level, from the 'Star Wars' nuclear rocket engine in the early 90s to the recent NASA mission in search of water on the moon. His prototype of the Clementine bi-static radar stands in the National Aviation and Space Museum, hailed as Clementine Moon Probe
ushering in a new era of
'faster, cheaper, better'
space exploration.
Through his company, ACT, Nozette held contracts with NASA, DARPA and the NRL (Naval Research Laboratory), giving him a "raft of secret access" including Top Secret, SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information), SAP (Special Access Program) and DOE"Q" (Defense Top Secret and Critical Nuclear Weapon Design).
But did he spy for a foreign power, hostile or otherwise?
Technically, no. Nozette was busted in an FBI sting operation, apparently believing he was passing information to a Mossad agent. As the FBI carefully note in their affadavit, their "false-flag" case contains no allegations against the state of Israel.
However, from 1998 to 2008, Nozette acted as a technical consultant for an aerospace company wholly owned by the state of Israel. About once a month, the company's representatives proposed questions, or taskings which he answered receiving in return some US$225,000 over 10 years.
More recently, Nozette had come under investigation for an undisclosed alleged "unrelated criminal offence" (FBI's emphasis) and had lost his SCI clearance. He told a colleague that if the US Government tried to "put him in jail" he would move from the United States to Israel or 'Foreign Country A' and "tell them everything he knows".
He recently traveled to both Israel and 'Foreign Country A'. Federal agents searched his luggage upon departure and return, when they found two thumb drives missing. The FBI then decided to go ahead with a 'false flag' operation.
To Be Continued... [PERMALINK]
Taliban strikes at UN in Kabul
Full court press as Afghan vote looms
28 Oct 2009 18:30 aedt - Taliban gunmen today stormed a United Nations hostel in central Kabul, killing at least six UN staffers. Update 29 Oct - The assailants wore police uniforms.Gunfire and explosions shook a smart residential district near the famous Chicken Street shopping thoroughfare favoured by Westerners. At least six foreigners were among those killed and another five wounded, an Afghan official said.
Afghan police were locked in a stand-off with a "group of terrorists" holed up in an apartment building, one police officer at the scene said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said by phone that the Taliban claimed responsibility.
"This is the first step, as we have warned that we will disrupt the second round of the elections," he said.
Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai's rival in the run-off presidential vote has demanded Afghanistan's chief election official be sacked, laying out an ultimatum that could complicate the pre-election process.
Mr Abdullah demanded Afghanistan's top election official, Azizullah Ludin be sacked and the interior, education and tribal affairs ministers suspended during the election period.
Police in Kabul yesterday fired shots in the air to disperse protesters preparing to set fire to a crudely made effigy of President Obama outside the parliament building.
The protesters claimed NATO forces had burned a copy of Islam's holiest book in a raid in east Afghanistan last week.
The NATO-led force in Afghanistan denied any involvement and blamed the Taliban for spreading false rumours.
A Tale of Two Taliban
"Shared ideology, different goals..."
27 0ct 2009 - As it devises a new Afghanistan policy, the Obama administration confronts a complex geopolitical puzzle: two embattled governments, in Afghanistan and Pakistan; numerous militias aligned with overlapping Islamist factions; and hidden in the factions’ midst, the foe that brought the United States to the region eight years ago, Al Qaeda.But at the core of the tangle are the two Taliban movements, Afghan and Pakistani. They share an ideology and a dominant Pashtun ethnicity, but they have such different histories, structures and goals that the common name may be more misleading than illuminating, says Souad Mekhennet in the New York Times...
FULL STORY in the NY TIMES - PKKH BLOG RESPONSES - [P]
Dogging the Enemy
Jazeera Puffs 'Salafi Movement' in East
21 0ct 2009 - Following are excerpts from a TV report on the Taliban in Afghanistan, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on October 13, 2009. Translation courtesy of Memri.org.Reporter: This is not a group of adventurers, but a group of Taliban fighters, conducting patrols in the Wardak province, only a few dozens of kilometers from the capital of Kabul. The sound of their motorbikes and their appearance in broad daylight are an indication of self-confidence, despite the presence of Afghan and foreign military forces in the region.
The field commanders maintain constant contact with the squads spread in the region, which means that these groups are ready to carry out what is required of them, and they are highly organized and coordinated.
Muhammed Nafi', Taliban field commander and head of Taliban courts in Wardak: The US will be defeated. They have tried all their war tactics, but failed. This is their last opportunity, and they will be defeated. We carry out well-organized night patrols and watches. Their raids do not affect us at all, but they harm the civilians.
Reporter: In the Kunar province in east Afghanistan, we witness an attack by the fighters of the Salafi movement on an armored column of the Americans, who preferred not to respond. The Taliban says that it controls the Chapa Dara district.
WATCH the VIDEO on MEMRI (Registration required) - PERMALINK
"To terrify and intimidate..."
Aussie Jihad Five Convicted, Face Life
16 Oct 2009 - A Sydney court has convicted five men of conspiracy to plan a terrorist act or acts within Australia, and now face the prospect of life behind bars. Prosecutors said the men stockpiled weapons, ammunition and explosive chemicals in preparation for a mass attack. While they had not yet selected a particular target, the court heard, they needed only an opportunity to put their intention into effect. They were also found in possession of extremist literature and had attended military-style training camps. [Continue reading...]Soft power can bring hard problems
China's "harmony school" hits discordant note
12 Oct 2009 -
Beijing doesn't just want to conquer the supermarket shelves of the world, but also the minds of the population. But first they need to cultivate a little "authenticity" says Matthias von Hein at DW-world.com.
Lock Step - of the people, for the people...
China's propaganda chief Li Changchun openly declared at the 50-year celebrations of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV early this year that the nation with the strongest communication capabilities could disseminate its culture and central values and therefore influence the world, von Hein reports. [Continue]
READ THE FULL STORY at DW-WORLD.COM
Radicalism's Long Shadow
Baader-Meinhof's chilling lessons ignored
20 Sep 2009 -
Despite murdering 34 people, Baader-Meinhof garnered a degree of support from about one-quarter of the West German population. Accepted if not always admired by guilt-ridden liberals, who saw its panache as a countercultural critique of West Germany’s boring
Stephen Aust bourgeois life and its association with the American war in Vietnam, Baader-Meinhof carefully cultivated an outlaw image. [Continue reading...]
House Chops Black Ops
Military Information Operations Axed
13 Sep 2009 -
The US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee has slashed fully half the funding from the Department of Defense's 2010 budget for Information Operat-ions (IO), immediately terminating a raft of secret programs totalling $500,000,000, saying many were "focused far beyond traditional military information operations." [Continue reading...]Obama Stars as Right Rants
Push to Ban President's Chat with Kids
08 Sep 2009 -
A televison address to American students by President Barack Obama has evoked shrill claims of propaganda, brainwashing and 'socialist indoctrination' from Republican figures along with threats to boycott the broadcast.
In an effort to head off the controversy, the President has released the full text of his talk beforehand so that parents can decide for themselves if thay want their children to listen to it. [Continue reading...]
Fall of a Propaganda Prince
Publisher Scooped by Indon Terror Sweep
26 Aug 2009 -
Indonesian counter-terror squad officers have arrested jihadist publisher Muhamed Jibril Abdurahman near Jakarta, also raiding the offices of his website, Arrahmah.com.
Police allege Muhamed Jibril, who styles himself the 'Prince of Jihad' online, has helped channel overseas funds to the July 17 bombers who killed six people at two hotels in Jakarta. As well as websites and blogs, Muhamed Jibril is a leading publisher of extremist magazines, comics, books and DVDs espousing Pray, he's on your side
holy war against the West. [Continue reading...]
Obama's cut-out charm offensive
Senator meets Suu Kyi and Junta leader
16 Aug 2009 -
A US senator met Burma's top general and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday, while he made arragements for the release of American prisoner John Yettaw, whose midnight swim to Suu Kyi's lakeside compound in May led to her renewed detention.
Suu Kyi & Senator Webb
Democratic Senator Jim Webb met Burma's junta leader, Than Shwe, at the remote new capital of Naypyidaw, then flew to Rangoon to meet with Suu Kyi at a guesthouse immediately afterward.
Webb said he also asked for Ms Suu Kyi to be released. Asked about the junta's response, he said: "I'm hopeful about this."
[SOURCE: REUTERS 16 Aug 09] - DETENTION 'WORSE' 26 Aug
'Threats, bullying and intimidation'
Australia will rewrite anti-terror laws
14 Aug 2009 -
Australia will revise its anti-terrorism laws, giving more power to the police and changing the definition of terrorism.
The Australian government says the changes are necessary because the country faces a "significant threat" of attack by extremists.
The measures will give police emergency powers to raid the homes of terrorism suspects without seeking the approval of a PM Kevin Rudd magistrate, and will make it harder for
[VOA STORY] terrorism suspects to be released on bail.
The proposed amendments also include a broader definition of a terrorist, to include those planning acts of 'psychological harm' as well as those intending to inflict physical injury.
Tango in the Hood
Still Lucky - Terrorist Plot Busted in Australia
04 Aug 2009 -
Police swooped on Melbourne's northern suburbs this morning in a series of pre-dawn raids to head off what authorities said would have been "the most serious terrorist attack on Australian soil". [Full Article...]
A covert surveillance unit code-named NEATH had monitored the group since January. The Australian Defence Force will hold aerial exercises over Sydney for the next three weeks. PM Kevin Rudd says Australia's threat level remains 'medium'
FULL COVERAGE - ABC.NET.AU | THE LADS: ABOUT AL SHABAB
Full Court Press in East Jerusalem
Israel Pushes Obama to the Brink
03 Aug 2009 -
The UN has lashed Israel as two Palestinian families
totalling 53 people were evicted from their East Jerusalem homes today by baton-wielding police. Israeli authorities declared that the properties are owned by Jewish people.
[READ MORE...] Zero Tolerance at home - Reuters
Moderates on mass trial in Teheran
Iran's Velvet Underground Down by Law
04 Aug 2009 -
Iranian authorities are ratchet-ing up the pressure on reformists, staging what former president Mohammad Khatami (right) has condemned as the 'show trial' of over 100 reform-minded leaders who are accused of trying to instigate a velvet revolution in Iran
They are charged with conspiring to misrepre-sent the recent Iranian Mr Mohammad Khatami
election results as fraudulent [READ MORE...]
Libya "couldn't find worthy enemies"
We nearly had The Bomb - Qadhafi
25 Jul 2009 - When the stylish Libyan leader Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi (aka Colonel Gaddafi) addressed Iran's nuclear program on Al-Sa'a TV on July 18, he let slip some disturbing comparisons with Libya's own nuclear program, discontinued in 2003.
"If Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes, we should encourage it. Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi We shouldn't stand in [READ MORE...] its way," he said.
Dogged ignorance pays deadly dividends
Home-Grown Murder Cult Scourges Nigeria
29 Jul 2009 -
Members of a group known as Boko Haram, or "no education", have kllled at least 150 people in a series of vicious attacks in Nigeria. Members of the group attacked a police station in Baishu state after followers of a radical cleric were caught making bombs. [more...]ABC RADIO REPORT | REUTERS Jul 30 'By All Means Necessary'
ABC.NET.AU Jul 31 AEST Nigeria Police Execute Sect Leader
No Second Opinion?
Medicos call for smart health-care card
22 Jul 2009 -
The AMA (Australian Medical Association) has renewed calls for an electronic health records card to be carried by all citizens.
Eatlier schemes have foundered over privacy issues and concerns the card would become a de facto national ID card. The Australian Government has since said strict penalties would apply to anyone demanding the new card, which would carry a photograph, as ID.
The AMA says that privacy "must not get in the way" of effective treatment, [READ MORE... ] Smart Card?
New Q-protocol cracks quantum code
Scientists Beam Up Quantum Secrets
26 Jun 2009 -
Scientists have succeeded in making the first remote copies of beams of laser light by combining quantum cloning with quantum teleportation in a single step. Quantum cryptographic protocols are so secure they can can not only discover tapping but where and how much information is leaking out. Now, using telecloning, the identity and location of the intruder can be
Dr Sam Braunstein concealed. [READ MORE... ]
One two three, what are we fightin' for?
Shipping: Are We That Good, or Just Lucky?
19 Jun 2009 - With 90 percent of commerce still traveling by sea, some see the oceans as globalization's primary "lines of communication" - ungoverned space that happens to take up three-quarters of the Earth's surface and thus needs far more persistent and pervasive policing [READ MORE... ]PRCs Anti-Ship BM | PRCs New Sub | Pix | PRC Joins Piracy Force
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