Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- Saudi security authorities have arrested two suspects in Mecca and Riyadh following raids on suspected Terrorist hideouts. Major General Mansour al-Turki, the Interior Ministry's official security spokesman, said the authorities arrested an individual suspected of belonging to the misguided group at 0400 hours on Sunday when they raided a house (east) of Riyadh near exit 11, adding that he is being questioned at present to determine his position. He added, "Another suspect was arrested in Mecca at 0600 hours yesterday morning, Sunday." Sources told Asharq al-Awsat that the suspect was arrested in Mecca after the security authorities watched him distributing subversive pamphlets during the early hours for a whole week in Al-Buhayrat neighborhood in the holy capital.
Subversive pamphleting, oh, the horror!
Elsewhere, the security authorities at Al-Hudaythah customs north of Saudi Arabia disclosed that a mentally disturbed individual broke through the customs and passport barrier at the crossing last Friday night and advanced several kilometers inside Jordanian territories. The sources said the man is a mentally sick 25 years old Saudi national who was totally naked when he fled.
Now there's a picture I didn't need
They added that the Jordanian security authorities are holding him and expected to hand him over to their Saudi counterparts after completing the necessary arrangements.
The customs official said the man drove in his Mercedes through the concrete ramps and broke through the Saudi customs and passport control barrier at Al-Hudaythah town and headed toward the Jordanian side until he reached the Jordanian Al-Amri crossing and customs barrier where he was arrested without any casualties when his car stopped because of the damage caused to it while driving through the security barriers. The young man's father said his son went regularly to the King Khalid University Hospital where a file was opened for him because he suffers from mental problems.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/17/2005 12:37 ||
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#1
arrested an individual suspected of belonging to the misguided group ... he is being questioned at present to determine his position.
Forgive me, but isn't the usual answer to that, "I'm standing right here" ?
Sanaa, 17 Oct. (AKI) - A Yemeni businessman accused of murdering one of Saddam Hussein's relatives earlier this year has been freed after one million dollars in blood money was paid, the Emirates newspaper Gulf News reports. Ali Ahmad Hassan al-Majeed, nephew of Ali Hassan al-Majeed - Saddam's half brother, better known as Chemical Ali - was shot dead in February this year at a Chinese restaurant in the capital Sanaa after a heated argument with a businessman over the former Iraqi dictator.
"A curse on your uncle's mustache!"
"No one curses my families mustaches and lives! Go fur your gun, Ahsan!"
"OK"
A relative of the businessman, Ahsan al-Hadha, told the Emirates newspaper Gulf News that he was released from prison after the issue was settled between the two tribal families following several months of negotiations. The case was settled before coming to court, with no objections from the prosecution. "Our family paid 700,000 dollars to al-Majeed's relatives in return for renunciation of the issue, while 300,000 dollars went towards other things related to the settlement of the issue," the relative said, without giving further details.
I'm sure they'll find "uses" for all that cash
Witnesses to al-Majeed's killing say he died after attacking al-Hadha, who took out his gun and tried to shoot him, whereupon al-Majeed managed to get the pistol off him. The people working and eating in the restaurant, in the Hadda area of the capital, intervened and stopped the fight, but when al-Hadha got his gun back they say he shot al-Majeed dead.
"Pitched on his head, and pumped full of lead, was Dangerous al-Majeed"
Yemen's laws are currently an awkward combination of Islamic law, Turkish law, English common law and local tribal customary laws and it is common practice for families to save the life of a relative or buy their freedom by paying blood money to the family of the victim.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/17/2005 10:52 ||
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The attack on Nalchik, capital of the north Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, was a carefully planned guerrilla operation carried out in broad daylight in a big city. The estimates of the fighters' numbers have varied from 50 to 600 (as of Sunday, official figures and news service accounts cited more than 130 people dead, including 94 attackers, and 15 arrested), but the important fact is that they were able to penetrate the city unnoticed and unhampered, thus demonstrating a clear advantage over numerically far superior federal forces in planning, intelligence and organization.
Vladimir Putin inherited the problem of Chechnya when he came to power. He pledged to make Russia safer, but during his tenure, terrorism and subversive activity have steadily expanded. His launching of the second atrocious war in Chechnya soon after he took office as prime minister in 1999 led to a vicious circle of guerrilla attacks, followed by retaliation by federal forces, which in turn brought out increasing numbers of young Chechen men seeking revenge. Later Putin opted for a Chechenization of the crisis and ended up with a pro-Moscow Chechen leader with a reputation as a butcher; his armed followers are reported to use abductions, hostage-taking and torture against their enemies. This man was granted the highest state award and was personally befriended by Putin, who received him in the Kremlin.
Terrorist attacks under Putin have included the Moscow theater siege in the fall of 2002, in which more than 800 people were taken hostage by Chechen terrorists; a botched rescue operation left 120 hostages dead. After that, terrorist attacks followed in a quickening succession that climaxed in the terrible tragedy at the Beslan schoolhouse in northern Ossetia in September 2004. The terrorism problem was no longer confined to Chechnya; it had spread all over the north Caucasus and was making plain the need for a major rethinking of policy.
But instead of rethinking things, Putin seized on the Beslan tragedy as an excuse to launch a political crackdown and to further curb democratic practices. The information about the situation in the north Caucasus, as well as anti-terrorist operations, became even more tightly filtered by state-controlled TV networks. The investigation of Beslan, like that of the theater siege before it, has been much more about helping high-ranking officials avoid accountability than about a careful probe of the government's policy flaws.
When Putin took over as Russia's president, Kabardino-Balkaria was quiet. But Putin's use of brutal force in Chechnya has backfired, producing growing numbers of revenge-seekers. Further centralization of power has led to deeper problems of the kind inherent in a heavily bureaucratic system: poor performance, lack of accountability, failure to coordinate efforts because each official seeks first and foremost to avoid responsibility at any cost. A local leader with an independent source of authority is regarded with suspicion -- loyalty to the Kremlin is valued above all. This breeds incompetence and powerlessness among local officials.
Putin and those around him routinely attribute violent attacks in the north Caucasus republics to international terrorism. In fact, what is in common to all these predominantly Muslim regions is the abominable corruption of the local elites, awful social conditions and disenfranchised populations that become easy prey for radical underground groups.
In addition, each of those territories has its own problem. For instance, in Dagestan, where there is a complicated entanglement of dozens of ethnic groups, the balance among clans is cracking, leading to intense feuding. As a result, some 100 subversive attacks and shootouts have occurred there over the past 10 months. In Kabardino-Balkaria, one of the causes of trouble appears to be a fierce crackdown on Muslim believers; the closure of most mosques and brutal police treatment of those suspected of ties with Islamists have pushed young men to organize against the police.
So far the government's social policy has been largely limited to pouring more money into the troubled regions -- money that mostly ends up in the pockets of the corrupt.
Rather than masterminding a strategy to address these problems, Putin has allowed them to build; he blamed terrorism in the north Caucasus on evil outside forces seeking to weaken Russia because they regard it as a "threat that needs to be eliminated."
Back in the mid-1990s, when the first Chechen war began, there was talk of a nightmarish scenario in which the nations of the Caucasus would join the Chechen rebels in their secessionist cause. This threat was never realized and still does not seem imminent, but the specter of a Caucasus war is closer today than it was in the Russia that Putin inherited.
The Kremlin is hardly unaware of the gravity of the north Caucasus problem. One year ago Putin put one of his most efficient men in charge of this troubled region. But even if good decisions are made, a huge hurdle will remain: the irresponsibility and inefficiency of Putin's bureaucracy. Taking that on is a task Putin is not ready for.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/17/2005 01:47 ||
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New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, on his way to North Korea for three days of talks, said Monday he would press the communist country for "concrete steps" to dismantle its atomic weapons program and a commitment to allow verification that it will remain nuclear-free. Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also told The Associated Press during a refueling stop in Tokyo that he would urge North Korean officials to cooperate with humanitarian aid organizations and allow them to operate more freely in the reclusive country. "We're going to focus on two important areas: one is verification, the second is what steps are the North Koreans taking to dismantle their nuclear weapons - concrete steps," Richardson told the AP at Yokota Air Base on the outskirts of Tokyo. North Korea's state-run news agency reported Monday evening that Richardson had arrived in Pyongyang.
The Democratic governor has been to North Korea several times before and has kept up ties with Pyongyang officials over the years. He was visiting Pyongyang at the request of North Korea. Richardson, however, denied that he was "an interloper," saying that he was fully supportive of the Bush administration's policy of working with North Korea through the so-called six-party talks on its nuclear program. "I'm trying to be helpful," Richardson said. "I've kept up my dialogue with them at their request, I've had a long relationship with them and I want to take advantage of that relationship to help my country."
Richardson was invited by the North Koreans in May, but postponed his trip when Washington asked him to wait until the recent round of talks in Beijing on Korea's nuclear weapons was completed. The United States had provided with him and his entourage with an Air Force plane for the trip. The Beijing talks ended with a commitment by North Korea to abandon its nuclear program, which Pyongyang claims has already yielded a weapon. Richardson said that he would push the North Koreans to commit to specific steps to implement that agreement. The next round of talks, which also involves China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, was scheduled for November but no date has been set. "It was a major step forward in the last six party talks, and now is the follow through," Richardson said. "Where I think I can help is in the implementation - I'm not there to negotiate anything new."
The governor was accompanied by public health, energy and other officials from his state. Richardson said he hoped their presence would show the North Koreans what kind of assistance they could expect in return for giving up nuclear weapons. "The idea behind the experts is to say, look ... there will be advantages" to abandoning atomic bombs, he said. Richardson said he did not expect to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and instead hopes to meet with Foreign Ministry and defense officials. The entourage was scheduled to stay in North Korea from Monday evening until Thursday, then travel to Japan and South Korea to brief officials. The group is scheduled to be back in New Mexico on Oct. 22.
Richardson developed a reputation as a roving diplomat when he served in Congress, traveling to Iraq, North Korea, Cuba and Sudan to win the freedom of captive Americans. Richardson left Congress to join the administration of former President Bill Clinton as ambassador to the United Nations. For Richardson, who's considered a likely presidential contender in 2008, the trip offers a potential chance to display his foreign policy know-how. The governor, who is up for re-election next year, denied seeking advantage from the trip and said that foreign policy should be beyond partisan politics. Since his election as governor, Richardson has remained active in foreign affairs, appearing frequently on national TV hosting international visitors in Santa Fe, including officials from China, North and South Korea, and Japan.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/17/2005 08:49 ||
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#1
Bill just wants to feel good by visiting a place that has more poverty and lost hope than the Navajo reservation back home.
#2
Leave them alone already. They've played their games enough times to prove that they're not serious about negotiations of any kind, let alone coming to an agreement that they'll abide by.
#3
Someone has to clothe, feed, and otherwise support the lifestyle, or desired lifestyle, of the rampaging Barbarians of antiquity, or at least International Leftism-Socialism-Progressive, and it t'aint gonna be them - the Horror, the Horror, the Horror, ....... of having to work for a living, for ourselves by ourselves, and without depending on American tribute, eeeerrrrrrr, tax dollars, the Horror of "the Few" NOT ruling "the Many", the Failed and Failing 10% NOT ruling or bossin' arouond the 90+%!
ASHLAND â Pete Seda and his former Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation passed out copies of what the federal government considers to be a radical version of the Quran that includes a call to jihad, or holy war, against those who do not believe in Islam. The book, called "The Noble Quran," includes a chapter, called "Appendix 3," that tells readers to "race to jihad" and to include weapons such as missiles, planes and ships against the enemies of Allah.
The Religion of Peace⢠at its finest...
Tom Nelson, the Portland attorney licensed as the Al-Haramain agent here, acknowledged the appendixâs presence Saturday, saying that he believes government misinterprets it and uses it to paint the group as terrorists. "Thatâs the one thatâs driving people nuts," Nelson said.
Gee, why would that be?
Nelson said he believes Seda and Soliman Al-Buthe, his Saudi Arabian partner in Al-Haramain, chose the version because it was a good translation of the Quran and not because of the addition of the appendix.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Nelson, who is Al-Butheâs lawyer, said the pair did not stress reading or applying the messages from "Appendix 3." This version of the Quran was printed before the Sept. 11 attacks, when jihad did not have the same holy war connotations as today, Nelson said.
Then what were they doing September 11th, Tom?
"I can see how Americans can be upset about it after 9/11," Nelson said. "I donât think they would have pre-9/11."
That's because most of us weren't paying attention before 9/11. Now that we're paying attention, we're noticing all sorts of interesting items about the 'Religion of Peace' (PTUI).
Despite the appendixâs many references to violence and war, Nelson prefers to consider jihad as a "struggle" and that Islam teaches that "death is better than oppression."
And that beheading your enemies is best of all.
"A call to jihad means (something) completely different to a Westerner than an Easterner," said Nelson, who is a practicing Muslim.
"We'd like to keep it that way, of course..."
"There are all kinds of jihads," he said. "It can be a violent struggle. It can be a non-violent struggle."
"It can involve knives or guns or dynamite or hijacked aircraft. It's all very subtle..."
And beheading your enemies is best of all.
Nelson said parts of the appendix are "somebodyâs opinion of what the Quran said," though it has become a focal point for making Muslims "appear as disparaging individuals," Nelson said.
Could it be that it's because "somebody's" in the habit of issuing fatwahs and "spiritual guidance" to the rubes, who then rush off to kill infidels?
"Frankly, I think everybody wishes âAppendix 3â was never written," Nelson said. "I wish it hadnât happened," he said. "I wish it wasnât there. But it is."
Maybe you should consider becoming a Unitarian, Tom. And Pete and Soliman and all their accomplices might, as well. Somehow, the thought of militant Unitarianism doesn't scare me.
Unequivocal denunciation of violence in 5 .. 4 .. 3 .. .. .. 4 .. 5 .. 6 ...
#1
Hookay, now freeze the entire organization's assets, including capital equipment and buildings until they distribute an equal number of tracts, sermons, flyers, whatever that contain corrected passages unequivocally renouncing violent jihad. They can go out and collect new contributions which must be strictly delegated towards this end and no other, under federal monitoring. Once they have complied, their assets can be thawed. After microscopic scrutiny and auditing, of course.
#2
Hookay, now freeze the entire organization's assets, including capital equipment and buildings until they distribute an equal number of tracts, sermons, flyers, whatever that contain corrected passages unequivocally renouncing violent jihad. They can go out and collect new contributions which must be strictly delegated towards this end and no other, under federal monitoring. Once they have complied, their assets can be thawed. After microscopic scrutiny and auditing, of course.
#4
"Frankly, I think everybody wishes âAppendix 3â was never written," Nelson said. "I wish it hadnât happened," he said. "I wish it wasnât there. But it is."
So rip it out and burn it. What's the freakin' problem here, people?
"Accidentally" banned websites include Debka (how do they dare!?), Jerusalem post, Maariv, Yediot Aharonot,... the banning motive is to prevent acess to website promoting terrorism, revisionnism and discrimination. Hat tip french blog http://balagan.blog-city.com/.
Multi part article, see at link.
#1
Remind me again why these guys want their own internet...besides the need for censorship of course, and the desire to tell you what is and isn't good for you.
Posted by: Rafael ||
10/17/2005 12:30 Comments ||
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Waddya mean "accidently"?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/17/2005 19:08 Comments ||
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BUCHAREST- A wealthy Romanian-Syrian businessman and his American-Iraqi associate are accused of organising the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq in March, a judicial source said. The Romanian-Syrian Omar Hayssam organised the abduction with his business partner Mohamed Munaf, an American of Iraqi origin, according to extracts of an indictment detailing the charges published by the Mediafax news agency. The Romanian justice ministry announced it was taking steps to extradite Munaf, who is in the custody of US authorities in Iraq. Hayssam was arrested in Bucharest in May when his role in the abduction came to light. The abduction would have allowed Hayssam to transfer large sums of money abroad at a time when he was under scrutiny for his business dealings, according to the indictment. Hayssam contacted Munaf to prepare the abduction of Marie Jeanne Ion and Sorin Miscoci of the Prima TV channel and Ovidiu Ohanesian of the daily Romania Libera, on the ground in Iraq. He then employed a "cell specialising in abductions" in Baghdad to carry it out. The cell later refused to release the hostages and Munaf as agreed. The hostages were held for 55 days before being released following negotiations. No ransom was paid. It later emerged that the hostages were held in the same place as the French journalist Florence Aubenas, who was held for five months after being abducted last January while reporting for the French daily Liberation.
#1
I keep thinking of that scene from the Firefly pilot... when he's talking to their erstwhile "employer," a would-be fence named "Badger" who's alarmed to find out that they were spotted by the feds while performing the salvage operation he sent them on...
BADGER:
What were you in the war? That big war you failed to win? A Sergeant? Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds, Balls and Bayonets Brigade, big tough veteran, now you got yourself a ship and you're a captain! Only I think you're still a Sergeant, see. Still a soldier, man of honour in a den of thieves. (in his face) Well it's my gorramn den and I don't like the way you look down on me. I'm above you. Better than. Businessman, see? (fiddles with coat) Roots in the community. You're just a scavenger.
We need a frame grab from this scene for future stories about "businessmen." The tie kills me...
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
10/17/2005 19:02 Comments ||
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Get the reporter and let the Iraqi police have a long talk with him. Reporters are on the other side. They are 100% fair game. Any way of messing with their minds or screwing them over is to be encouraged.
#1
One of the CNN crawler thingies this morning was "Sunnis Reject Consitution in Anbar Province." That spoiled my whole day, or at least a nano-second of it.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/17/2005 12:43 Comments ||
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#2
Trying desperately to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.
#3
Senator Biden was on Imus this a.m. gnashing his teeth that some Sunnis either didn't vote or (gasp) voted against the referendum. No mention that it was their free choice to vote or not vote as they pleased.
Mayor Dhari Abdul Hadi was leaving his home for a City Council meeting a couple of months ago when he was attacked in an apparent assassination attempt.
But this being Fallouja, the mayor was packing a gun.
He shot one of the assailants dead, drove off, then swaggered into the council chamber to tell his tale.
After being held by insurgent fighters last year, then pummeled by a thunderstorm of American artillery, Fallouja is slowly moving toward normality.
Nearly everyone fled the bombing, virtually emptying the smashed city. But nearly a year after the battle for Fallouja â the largest U.S. assault since the 2003 invasion of Iraq â about 60% of the city's residents, roughly 200,000 people, have returned.
As many as 150,000 Falloujans voted in Saturday's constitutional referendum, despite threats from extremist groups and ambivalence about the charter.
The turnout showed the extent to which this largely Sunni Arab city is grasping for an everyday life.
Many people here still live in tents, however. Some squat in abandoned houses because theirs are gone, and others live amid the ruins of their own homes in the hope that they will someday scratch together enough money to build walls.
The city complains that the Iraqi transitional government has not kept its promise to send the $500 million Fallouja says it needs for reconstruction.
"We have only received $200 million," city reconstruction commissioner Fawzi Mohammed said.
"And that was the regime of [former Prime Minister] Iyad Allawi."
In the last three months, Falloujans, with the help of Americans, have tried to re-create a semblance of municipal infrastructure. There is a functioning government â a City Council meets weekly, with members selected by various tribes and religious groups. Some councilmen wear tribal or clerical robes and headdresses, others work in suits and ties.
There is a police force composed entirely of Falloujans. They wear ill-fitting white shirts with loosely stitched shoulder bars, Russian pistols on their hips and rifles slung over their shoulders.
And there are the other assorted authorities: mosque and tribal leaders and even a few professional groups.
The jobless rate remains high, maybe 60%, though no one has reliable numbers. Most of Fallouja's factories, which once produced cement, flour and ice, are offline, punched through during the bombardment. Only the potato processing factory remains. But some businesses are returning, especially the auto repair outlets that once drew so many Iraqis to the city.
Mosques, schools and food shops inhale and exhale the children and parents of Fallouja, giving the city the semblance of normal life.
There is small-scale, do-it-yourself, recycled-brick construction. There are Falloujan newspapers. There is barefoot soccer raising the dust.
Insurgents sometimes challenge the municipal recovery. Someone drove a car bomb into a U.S. convoy in June, killing six American troops. During Saturday's vote, Iraqi forces' convoys were attacked with grenades.
Falloujans suspect that members of Al Qaeda still lurk in villages just outside the city.
Marines say the insurgent cells in town are probably local men with guns and explosives who don't like the Iraqi security forces who come from out of the area.
Falloujans also don't like the checkpoints that ring the city, appearing from nowhere like mirages in the vast desert province of Al Anbar. The stations are manned mostly by out-of-towners, reminding Falloujans that the city is still not entirely their own.
Residents don't like the raids, either, or the paperless detentions.
"Fallouja has a great many sons in detention, maybe 10,000, maybe more," City Council President Shakur Kamel said.
"We have full confidence when they are in American prisons. We are confident they will be released. But we are afraid for those detainees in the Interior Ministry jails because no one enters and goes out of those jails alive."
Some Falloujans see the Iraqi army as an outsider. The soldiers are mostly Shiite Muslims and may be loyal to Iran, some complain.
Falloujans are so distrustful of these troops that they posted unarmed bands of tribal volunteers outside polling stations. Many say they fear Iraqi security forces more than the insurgents or the Americans.
"If there is one potential flashpoint, it is between the [Iraqi security forces] and the people of Fallouja," said John Kael Weston, a U.S. State Department official assigned to the city.
Thousands of American troops are in or around Fallouja. Unmanned aerial drones, sounding like distant lawnmowers, monitor the city day and night. Marine convoys shuttle between Camp Fallouja, about 12 miles from town, and a small outpost within the city that serves as police headquarters, City Hall and a convention center.
But Weston said the time was fast approaching when the U.S. would leave Fallouja to its own future.
Falloujans, like most Sunni Arabs, boycotted the January parliamentary election. Many Sunnis now regret that move, which allowed other political factions in Iraq to make decisions without proportional input from the sect.
Weston said that with broad Sunni participation in Saturday's referendum and a parliamentary election in December, Falloujans have the opportunity to develop a legitimate political voice, one that is not distorted by violence.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/17/2005 01:29 ||
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"...some businesses are returning, especially the auto repair outlets that once drew so many Iraqis to the city."
Let's hope their definition of auto 'repair' has changed from 'installing bombs' to the more conventional meaning.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
10/17/2005 8:50 Comments ||
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It's hard to complain about something you bring down upon yourselves. Wonder if these asshats ever had second thoughts about the wisdom of stringing those American corpses from the bridge. They are lucky we didn't raze the city and salt the earth.
The high Sunni turnout for Iraq's constitutional referendum, coupled with the low level of violence, demonstrated that the United States was making strong progress in Iraq, the US ambassador to Iraq said. "I think the important achievement of yesterday, which was a great day for Iraq, was that the Sunnis, who had not participated in the political process, did participate this time," Zalmay Khalilzad said on ABC television on Sunday. "I think we are making good progress. Yesterday was a good indication that our approach to the Sunnis is producing results."
"This is the first time, yesterday, that they have participated in significant numbers," said Khalilzad, who had a key behind-the-scenes role in bringing about the draft and the referendum. More than 61% of registered Iraqi voters took part in Saturday's referendum on a permanent constitution, which, if approved, will open the way for general elections in December for a new government.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2005 00:00 ||
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Israel appeared to soften yesterday its opposition to Hamasâ participation in Januaryâs Palestinian elections, as officials indicated they would not interfere in the ballot if the group stands. While maintaining their strong opposition âin principleâ to Hamasâ participation, sources close to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that did not mean in practice that they intend to intervene in the Jan. 25 ballot. âWe are opposed to the participation of Hamas which is a terrorist organization, but we do not envisage arresting political officials if they are not involved in terror activities,â a close aide to Sharon told AFP on condition of anonymity. âOur opposition to participation of Hamas does not imply that there will be interference in the ballot,â he said.
Sharonâs National Security Adviser Giora Eiland also made a distinction between the principle of opposing Hamasâs participation and âpractical actionsâ which would be taken as a consequence. He told public radio that the âparticipation of a movement which kidnaps and assassinates Israeli citizens and dispatches human bombs as in Iraq is unacceptableâ. Eiland also argued that Israel was right to have raised the issue as the international community would have otherwise turned a blind eye.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
but we do not envisage arresting political officials if they are not involved in terror activities,â
#2
Israel should reverse its policy. In fact, Sharon should announce his personal endorsement of all the leaders of Hamas. And add that they are great collaborators with the IDF and the Mossad.
Metal detectors currently used for screening aircraft passengers could soon be supplanted by novel millimetre-wave cameras, able to detect even non-metallic concealed objects. The new system, named after a Brazilian bat, is based on technology developed for ESA spacecraft. Tadar is being demonstrated at this week's Inter Airport Europe Exhibition in Munich.
Conventional metal detectors, such as those used to check passengers at airports, are limited in that they can only detect metal objects. Other security technologies such as the X-ray imaging used to screen luggage, are unsuitable for checking people because of their use of ionizing radiation. An Irish company has now come up with a new security imaging system that can 'see' all objects, not just metallic items, by the use of only safe natural energy.
Named Tadar, after the Brazilian Tadarida bat, it uses millimetre-waves to detect and identify suspicious objects hidden under clothing or to see through cloud and fog, in the same way that the bat uses high-frequency signals to navigate and locate insect prey in the dark.
The high-frequency energy pulses emitted by the bat bounce off objects in its path and the reflected signals are interpreted by different types of sensory cell in the bat's brain to determine both the location and physical properties of these objects.
"This new system is based on advanced microwave technology that Farran, now part of the Smith Group, has developed for space systems," explains Tony McEnroe, Managing Director of Farran Technology.
"We developed the knowledge and skills while designing and packaging millimetre-wave devices for ESA projects. By integrating a novel scanning technology we have achieved a unique system for detecting and imaging items for security applications."
Tadar's sensors detect energy naturally emitted or reflected from objects, by using approximately 3-mm wavelengths that are completely harmless to people. At this wavelength clothes become transparent but dense objects such as explosives and weapons hidden under clothing block the body's natural radiation and reflect a clear profile of the blocked energy field.
Door keys, money, pocket knives and other objects that we normally carry in our pockets will stand out clearly. Even weapons produced in non-metallic materials and plastic explosives which conventional metal detectors cannot 'see', will clearly be identified, as well as liquid substances. Each type of material has its own frequency response and will produce its own representative 'colour' image, almost like a fingerprint.
High-frequency space components for new security system
Founded in 1977, Farran Technology has been supplying ESA for years with high-frequency microwave components and subsystems. Since 1998, the improved materials used for integrated circuits have permitted the production of integrated circuit devices able to operate within the millimetre-wave spectrum - the 30-300 GHz range of the frequency spectrum - used for a broad range of applications from advanced astronomy to broadband radio communications.
This advance enabled Farran to develop an in-house capability in the design and development of high-frequency circuits. Working together with the National Microelectronics Research Centre (NMRC) in Ireland and Fraunhoffer Institute in Germany, Farran led an ESA project in developing Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC) technology for operating in the 100 GHz band.
This area of the spectrum is very useful for inter-satellite communications due to its high signal bandwidth and low data loss. The first prototype devices have been successfully built and tested and will be delivered to ESA later this year. It is this very special expertise that Farran has used to develop their new Tadar camera.
Tadar in action â from up to 50 metres away
When someone stands in front of the Tadar camera they are scanned fully-clothed to measure their body's natural radiation against a temperature controlled background panel. The presence of any dense object will block the body's natural energy and the Tadar camera will detect the background temperature that is reflected off the object. The resultant thermal contrast presents a clear image of the suspect object.
"The Tadar millimetre-wave imaging system employs patented mechanical scanning technology with state-of-the-art millimetre MMIC front-end circuits, resulting in high performance and low costs," McEnroe adds. "This novel scanning technology can refresh the image ten times per second, allowing a 'walk by' screening operation that takes no longer than conventional metal detectors."
"The system can work in passive and active mode, without any change in its mechanical or optical configuration. In passive mode the person to be screened must stand in front of the system, while in active mode the system can produce three-dimensional images of a scene, even at a distance of over 50 metres," emphasises McEnroe.
"The primary applications for our Tadar system are security screening of people in airports and buildings where conventional metal detectors are used today. In future, the same technology could also be used to improve on existing infrared-based enhanced vision systems that enable pilots to see through clouds, as well as identify foreign objects on airport runways."
ESA's industrial delegate with Enterprise Ireland, Tony McDonald, says: "We are encouraging Irish companies such as Farran Technology, which have developed skills through working on ESA Space programmes, to exploit them commercially."
The ESA Technology Transfer Programme (TTP) in Ireland was launched in February 2003 by Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern. More than 100 Irish companies participated at the launch event in Galway.
Pierre Brisson, Head of ESA's Technology Transfer and Promotion Office, says, "This important advancement in security systems that has been developed in Ireland, illustrating the potential of our space technologies developed by European companies."
Tadar on display
The Tadar system was unveiled this week by Smiths Detection at the Inter Airport Europe Exhibition in Munich Airport. The exhibition is open until 14 October. Later this month it will be demonstrated at the IATA AVSEC World 2005 exhibition on aviation security taking place 25-27 October at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland.
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/17/2005 08:14 ||
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The Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Friday warned that the Jemaah Islamiah and the Abu Sayyaf may hit civilian targets any time in Mindanao, where security and rebel forces have joined in the hunt for the two terrorist groups.
The MILF said the two groups remain the biggest threat to the Philippines and terrorists could be planning an attack. It said the Jemaah Islamiah and the Abu Sayyaf have fragmented into smaller groups and are believed to be hiding in Mindanao.
âAlthough they are fragmented, they remain the biggest threat to the safety of everybody. There are strong possibilities that the terrorists may strike at civilian targets any time.
âWe canât exactly tell when or where, but we have alerted our forces to intensify the hunt for JI and Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Mindanao,â MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said.
The MILF, the countryâs largest Muslim separatist rebel group, is negotiating peace with Manila. It forged an agreement last year that paved the way for its forces to help government hunt down terrorists and criminals in areas where the MILF is operating.
The MILF shares intelligence about the JI and the Abu Sayyaf with the military through the ad-hoc joint action group.
In a recent interview by an online news group in Singapore the international terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, head of terrorism research, Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said: âJI is still training in the southern Philippines. JI camps are still active. JI continues to receive arms and munition explosives from its cells in the southern Philippines. It continues to receive funding from al-Qaeda and financiers in Saudi Arabia.â
He did not identify al-Qaeda and the Saudi financiers, or how they were channeling funds to the JI.
Gunaratna also warned that JI becomes active during the âbombing season,â usually from August to December.
âWhen I was asked about the state of health of JI, I said that JI will attack. JI is still capable. And I believe that JI has suffered, but it still retains significant infrastructure to mount attacks not only in Indonesia but in the Philippines and some of the neighboring countries,â he said.
Philippine authorities said Friday at least 33 JI members are believed to be hiding in Mindanao and were training local recruits.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/17/2005 02:06 ||
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#1
the bombing season is Here! (Aug to Dec) Check out your local markets for gifts and cards.
I wonder what are the right shoes for the season? White just doesn't seem like a good idea under the circumstances, but limiting to navy, brown and black seems awfully dull...
Via Western Resistance:
Iranian police have been accused of shooting and killing a motorist after he failed to stop when spotted eating during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a press report said. The victim, identified as 22-year-old Seyed Mostafa, was shot dead in Tehran on Saturday. He was also playing loud music with his car stereo, the government Iran newspaper said. "Even if the police claim is right, is eating during the fasting month punishable by death?" the victim's brother was quoted as saying. The report did not say if the family would press charges against the police, who have been actively enforcing a dawn to dusk Ramadan ban on public eating, drinking and smoking as well as a wider campaign to crack down on "lawless elements".
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice mobilized support among major powers for diplomatic showdowns over the next few weeks with Syria and Iran on a trip that ended on Sunday.
Over three days, Rice held talks with the leaders of France, Russia and Britain -- all holders of vetoes at the U.N. Security Council - on how to make the two U.S. foes meet U.N. security demands.
In a show of diplomacy that reflected the Bush administration's efforts this year to consult partners more, Rice crisscrossed Europe seeking to build a common front against Syria's suspected support for militants in Lebanon and Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Rebuffed by Russia on Iran, she did not win all the support she wanted.
Rice used several one-on-one meetings to prepare the ground for concerted pressure at the Security Council this month against Syria and at the U.N. nuclear watchdog in November against Iran.
A U.N. investigator is due to report his findings in the assassination of an anti-Syrian ex-prime minister of Lebanon on Friday.
Diplomats and Lebanese political sources expect some Syrian officials to be named in the report -- and Rice wants a robust response.
After a roughly 40-minute meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that focused on Syria, Rice said the council must "let the chips fall wherever they may."
Lavrov's fluent English would have allowed him to understand the U.S. message: Russia must not block action against Syria, with which it has military and commercial ties, if the report shows that Damascus has responsibility in the February car bomb.
Lavrov said Russia had agreed to cooperate with the United States in its response to the report.
Rice signaled she will also pressure Damascus over what the United States says is its support for militants in Lebanon.
She repeatedly warned that she wanted the full implementation of a U.N. resolution whose main outstanding issue is the disarming of the armed groups.
After talks in Paris, her counterpart, Philippe Douste-Blazy, said France as a co-sponsor with the United States supports the resolution "more than ever."
Syria denies it supports militants or that it was involved in the assassination.
But Rice needs more time if she is going to build support against Iran.
Russia rejected her appeal that Moscow back a U.S. drive to have the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency report Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions over suspicions that it is pursuing a nuclear bomb.
Iran says its nuclear programs are solely to generate electricity.
With the international appetite for a council referral unclear, Britain and France prefer to wait for wider support before pressing for the move, said a diplomat familiar with the discussions.
Faced with an IAEA vote November 24 on Iran that could involve referral to the council, Rice said there was time for Iran to show negotiations with Britain, France and Germany could work.
Her spokesman Sean McCormack said the countries were "unified" on Syria but they were "at a different stage" with Iran, watching for signs that Tehran wanted to resume talks.
"We'll see what they do between now and the end of November," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/17/2005 01:26 ||
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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Damascus on Sunday of continuing to destabilize Lebanon. According to statements by Rice in London, Syria is "stirring up difficulties in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon." She added that Damascus also continues to disregard UN Security Council Resolution 1559, issued September 2, 2004, which called for a complete Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and the end of all Syrian interference in its eastern neighbor's affairs. It also calls for disarming all militia in Lebanon, including those of the Palestinian camps and Hizbullah's military wing. "I think you will see over the next couple of weeks that we will have to address these issues in a multi-lateral fashion," Rice said.
Syria had claimed to have withdrawn all of its troops from Lebanon by the end of April of this year, but the U.S. continues to claim that Syrian intelligence forces remain in Lebanon to destabilize the situation. Damascus was also accused by the Lebanese media earlier this month of sending armed Palestinian fighters from a pro-Syrian offshoot of Fatah into Lebanon, where the group maintains a training camp. Rice, who is currently on a European tour, had already met on Friday with French President Jacques Chirac. On Saturday, she met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The U.S. official's discussions with the French and Russian presidents included the implementation of Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1595, which call upon the international community to assist the international probe into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Both European leaders expressed after their meetings their insistence on the implementing of all UN resolutions. Rice warned Syria against destabilizing Lebanon and stressed the "importance of a complete Syrian cooperation" with the international probe into Hariri's assassination.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2005 00:00 ||
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Baby Assad better watch himself...
I think he may soon get a swift boot in the backside...
Vladimir Putin declared in Brussels on Monday that radical Islamic groups are planning to systematically annihilate non-Moslems and to create a worldwide Caliphate. He added that western civilisation was at risk of being attacked by terrorists, these attacks being more than sporadic one-off attacks. Rather, they are, in the opinion of Vladimir Putin a âconcerted effort and programmeâ by an organisation which has a global structure and which has the intention to commit murderous atrocities in the name of Islam. Vladimir Putin also declared that there was a possibility that this organisation (Al-Qaeda) already has nuclear weapons. He did not hesitate to point out that the terrorists operating in Chechnya are part of this worldwide league of extremists and indeed are in constant contact with Osama Bin Ladenâs Al-Qaeda. Western sources repeatedly refer to the Chechens as âseparatistsâ who want to fight for their independence, whereas the reality is quite different. The Chechen terrorists are a small part of the 850,000 Chechen population, most of whom despise the bandits for what they are: common criminals with connections to international crime, posing in the name of Islam and separatism to gain sympathy for their cause from the ignorant or from those who periodically like to attack Russia. President Putin declared that if the West does not deal effectively with the Chechen question, acts such as those perpetrated in Moscow and Bali will become commonplace all over the world.
Such an islamophobe cowboy, this Putin guy. He's just like Hitler. He prolly wants to drag the West into an intractable quagmire at the behest of the Zionists at PNAC and Halliburton.
#1
Gee, which Putin should we believe? The one that says radical Islam wants to take over the west, or the one that says we shouldn't worry about the fact that he is giving Iran the capability to strike Europe with nuclear missiles?
#2
Money talks, BS walks. The Iranians have money.... or oil, which is basically the same thing. This speech is strickly for the domestic, Russian market.
#7
He added that western civilisation was at risk of being attacked by terrorists..
Considering that Russia, even now, has had a cultural struggle to westernize, I find it interesting that he identifies with the West[tm], considering how much he rejects even heavily socialized european democratic institutions. I think he's trying the o'Stalin approach of keeping two antagonists at bay [then the democracies and the real Nazis] to kill each other off and then act. Unfortunately for the Russian people then, that strategy collapse in June 1941, when Hitler surprised Stalin. Those Iranian missiles may yet reap upon the Russian people what Puty sows today following that strategy.
The word that best describes the mood of the letter's writer might be "beleaguered." He laments the recent loss of a wife, son, and daughter, for one thing. He hints at money problems and asks for cash, for another. He complains that not all of his recent works have been published, and that he's lost the manuscript of his last book. He notes, parenthetically, that American Intelligence has apparently acquired his computer.
Some experts suspect that the letter is a fake, and that the CIA - not Al Qaeda bigwig Ayman al-Zawahiri - may be its true author. It was US Intelligence that made public the 13-page missive, after all.
Others call it a fascinating document, and say much of it rings true. Take the letter's description of Al Qaeda's ultimate victory, in which the US is expelled from Iraq, Israel is conquered, and all Muslims - including Shiites - are converted to an extremist version of Sunni Puritianism. That's long been the terror group's bleak vision for the future.
"If [Zawahiri] didn't write it, it was certainly someone who understands what Al Qaeda wants," says retired Brig. Gen. Russell Howard, a counterterrorism expert at the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Posted in full last week on a US government website, the 6,000-word letter is purportedly from Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's deputy in the Al Qaeda organization, to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda's top man in Iraq.
Mr. Zarqawi and his group of Islamist insurgents are thought to be behind many of the most deadly attacks in Iraq, including suicide bombs directed at government targets and Shiite civilians. In the letter, Zawahiri thanks Zarqawi for his efforts, and says that Iraq "is now the place for the greatest battle of Islam in this era." Other Islamist conflicts, such as those in Afghanistan and Chechnya, are just "groundwork."
Mr. Zawahiri then outlines what he calls Al Qaeda's incremental goals for the future. First, expel the Americans from Iraq. Second, establish an Islamic authority, or emirate, over as much Iraqi territory as possible - "i.e. in Sunni areas" - to fill the vacuum left by the departing US power.
The third stage involves extending this wave of jihad to the "secular countries neighboring Iraq." Then, according to the letter, comes a final confrontation with Israel, "because Israel was established only to challenge any new Islamic entity," and establishment of a regional caliphate in which other sects of Islam convert to Al Qaeda principles.
Zarqawi and his jihadist forces need to be ready to implement this strategy because "things may develop faster than we imagine," says Zawahiri in the letter, citing the US experience in Vietnam.
Then the admonitions begin. Beheadings of hostages, and suicide attacks against ordinary Shiites, are not helping the movement, Zawahiri warns. The Muslim masses are put off by such slaughter. Even the elite of the mujahadeen may question the correctness of picking a fight with the Shiites "at this time."
The bottom line is that popular support may be the difference between victory or defeat. "We are in a battle, and ... more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media," says the letter.
Last Thursday, Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq denounced the document as a fake. In the US, some experts noted its convenient release date, just prior to Saturday's Iraqi constitutional vote, and the fact that the English translation of the text did not contain many of the flowery religious asides that have characterized Al Qaeda communications in the past.
The blessing on the prophet Muhammad invoked at the letter's beginning doesn't sound right, according to Juan Cole University of Michigan Middle East expert. He claims it appears to reflect Shiite, not Sunni, language.
"My gut tells me the letter is a forgery," Mr. Cole wrote Friday on his popular Middle East website, adding that Shiite groups in Iraq may have produced it.
The US government, for its part, has vehemently defended the missive's authenticity.
"It shows clearly the nature of the enemy we're dealing with," says State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.
Other experts say the letter's contents should not seem too surprising. It's true that serious splits in the jihadist movement have emerged in recent months, centering on the war in Iraq and Zarqawi's use of suicide bombings, says Bernard Haykel, an associate professor of Islamic studies at New York University.
He says it's easy to find evidence on jihadist websites and online journals that Zarqawi's attacks on ordinary Shiites in Iraq are turning many Muslims against the jihadists altogether.
It's possible the attacks "are making them lose credibility with their support base," says Mr. Haykel.
The issue for the jihadists may well be a practical one - possible loss of support in the region - rather than respect for Shiite religious rights.
In Iraq, the most extreme of the insurgents, such as the Al Qaeda contingent led by Zarqawi, see their current activities as part of a broader struggle for an Islam dominated by their narrow view of Sunni Puritanism, writes Anthony Cordesman, a military expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The question is not whether there will be a struggle against Shiites, but when.
"Such insurgents do not have to 'win' in Iraq, at least in any conventional sense of the term," writes Mr. Cordesman in his latest report on insurgent patterns. "An outcome that leaves Iraq in a state of prolonged civil war, and forces a spreading conflict in Islam between Sunnis and other sects ..., would be seen as a prelude to a broader eschatological conflict they believe is inevitable and that God will ensure they win."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/17/2005 01:28 ||
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#1
Here's one point: That this letter was released at such a "convenient" time is NOT a demerit against its authenticity. The timeframe for the US government to have gotten the letter is mid-July (after July 9) through early October (before October 11). Therefore, assuming that it's been completely milked for any and all actionable intelligence while remaining publically unknown, why SHOULDN'T it have been used to whatever further effect we could get from releasing it?
Besides, does anyone know if the contents of this letter have gotten "play" (publicized) anywhere in Iraq, amongst the people?
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
10/17/2005 2:53 Comments ||
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#2
Hey the peripheral spacing is okay, it must be legit!
#4
Zawahiri - was he not killed back in May of 2005? Funny, he's been awol since then, now even his letters take on a whole new tone. Come one, the man is dead or captured, never to be seen again. Why do we pretend that he and bin Laden are still alive?
I guess purgatory is a place where you are, for all practical purposes - dead and departed, but you can still communicate with cheap audio tapes and 13 page missives.
#5
The letter also denotes that the former focii of GLOBAL ISLAMIST/JIHADIST EMPIRE has now shrunk to local REGIONAL, another indic besides the new Iraqi Constitution that Dubya and the USA are not ony PREVAILING BUT WINNING!
Earthquake survivors in Indian Kashmir, where the delivery of relief supplies remains patchy in remote villages, complained yesterday that political parties have disrupted distribution efforts. âOur village has not received any government relief so far as we had voted for the opposition during the last elections,â says Farooq Ahmed, a resident of Garkote village in northern Uri sector. âWe are being victimised for our political ideologies,â he said, adding that whatever relief they received was from separatists and local charities.
A government official involved in the relief operation, who did not want to be named, acknowledged that at least one senior Kashmir state minister was interfering in relief distribution in the two worst-hit areas of Uri and Tangdar. âThere is interference and it is affecting our operations,â he said. âWe are being asked to take care of a particular area, which is not good.â The 7.6-magnitude earthquake which hit Oct. 8 destroyed or damaged more than 100,000 houses in Indian Kashmir and left more than 1,300 people dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2005 00:00 ||
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Must be because of the disaster recovery advisors sent from Baton Rouge.
#2
The same thing happened when the poor of Bhopal were injured and killed when the gas was released by an angry factory employee. The local government reasons that the poor are always with us, and so many projects in need of funding that are so much more important -- so the windfall of donations disappears into the endless maw of community need rather than flowing down to the individuals intended for .
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
ASHLAND â 
The high Sunni turnout for Iraq's constitutional referendum, coupled with the low level of violence, demonstrated that the United States was making strong progress in Iraq, the US ambassador to Iraq said. "I think the important achievement of yesterday, which was a great day for Iraq, was that the Sunnis, who had not participated in the political process, did participate this time," Zalmay Khalilzad said on ABC television on Sunday. "I think we are making good progress. Yesterday was a good indication that our approach to the Sunnis is producing results." 
Israel appeared to soften yesterday its opposition to Hamasâ participation in Januaryâs Palestinian elections, as officials indicated they would not interfere in the ballot if the group stands. While maintaining their strong opposition âin principleâ to Hamasâ participation, sources close to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that did not mean in practice that they intend to intervene in the Jan. 25 ballot. âWe are opposed to the participation of Hamas which is a terrorist organization, but we do not envisage arresting political officials if they are not involved in terror activities,â a close aide to Sharon told AFP on condition of anonymity. âOur opposition to participation of Hamas does not imply that there will be interference in the ballot,â he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Damascus on Sunday of continuing to destabilize Lebanon. According to statements by Rice in London, Syria is "stirring up difficulties in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon." She added that Damascus also continues to disregard UN Security Council Resolution 1559, issued September 2, 2004, which called for a complete Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and the end of all Syrian interference in its eastern neighbor's affairs. It also calls for disarming all militia in Lebanon, including those of the Palestinian camps and Hizbullah's military wing. "I think you will see over the next couple of weeks that we will have to address these issues in a multi-lateral fashion," Rice said.
Vladimir Putin declared in Brussels on Monday that radical Islamic groups are planning to systematically annihilate non-Moslems and to create a worldwide Caliphate. He added that western civilisation was at risk of being attacked by terrorists, these attacks being more than sporadic one-off attacks. Rather, they are, in the opinion of Vladimir Putin a âconcerted effort and programmeâ by an organisation which has a global structure and which has the intention to commit murderous atrocities in the name of Islam. Vladimir Putin also declared that there was a possibility that this organisation (Al-Qaeda) already has nuclear weapons. He did not hesitate to point out that the terrorists operating in Chechnya are part of this worldwide league of extremists and indeed are in constant contact with Osama Bin Ladenâs Al-Qaeda. Western sources repeatedly refer to the Chechens as âseparatistsâ who want to fight for their independence, whereas the reality is quite different. The Chechen terrorists are a small part of the 850,000 Chechen population, most of whom despise the bandits for what they are: common criminals with connections to international crime, posing in the name of Islam and separatism to gain sympathy for their cause from the ignorant or from those who periodically like to attack Russia. President Putin declared that if the West does not deal effectively with the Chechen question, acts such as those perpetrated in Moscow and Bali will become commonplace all over the world.
