Adventurous Dream Ocean Holiday goes belly up for British Couple.
Private Seafaring holidaymakers, Paul and Rachel Chandler kidnapped close to the Seychelles last week by Somali Pirates have had their heads summarily tagged for $7 milllion to secure their safe release.
The couple from Tunbridge Wells in Kent (UK) were sailing to the Amirante Islands en route to Tanzania when Somalis happened to board their vessel and take command.
The Chandlers have mentioned to the pirates that their personal wealth is’nt too great and since this information was ascertained, their captors who refer to themselves as the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia have requested that United Kingdom Government produce the sum of money asked for.
No doubt that negotiations will be going on somehow! The British Government has erstwhile refused to enter into talks with renegades or hostage takers of this ilk and continues to maintain this non-bargaining position during this current incident.
Weblinks: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1122227/Pirates-want-ransom-for-UK-couple
A Few Good Non-Muslims: The Trial of Radovan Karadzic
Getting used to being chastised by the The Hague, the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has made the decision to actively boycott his trial in the Netherland court.
As a way of protesting against being given very little time to independently organize himself and produce evidence in defense of his own position, Mr Karadzic seems to be using mediative counterstrokes which are interesting to say the least, yet procedurally allowed for.
Like the belated Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic who died in custody at some point before his trial’s ending in 2006, Mr Karadzic has subtly displayed contempt for what war crime charges he is supposedly answerable for.
These “Balkan war” casefiles have been dealt with by Prosecutor Ms Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff for more than 3 years, and wanting to effectively bulwark Mr Karadzic’s attempts to delay the court proceedings; Ms Uertz-Retzlaff has suggested that his personal requests to represent himself be superseded, and requiring Karadzic to be allocated with a defense attorney in order to make sure that he unable to undermine or bolster the courts again.
Securing a successful prosecution over Radovan Karadzic for his involvement in the deaths of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica during the course of the war in 1995 is highly desirable to the courts at the Hague.
Failing to gain a conviction of any sort over Slobodan Milosevic, judges now feel that is imperative to prove and sentence Karadzic for his criminal complicity in these events. This pitiful saga goes on.
Weblinks: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/26/2724756.htm
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/10/2009102643638102108.html#
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LN115591.htm
http://www.france24.com/en/20091026-karadzic-absent-un-court-adjourns-war-crimes-trial?autoplay=1
Afghan Marital Sex Law
In March of this year Afghan President, Hamid Karzai lent his signature to the passing of a law which give men the right to demand marital sex with his wife every four days. The legislation also regulates for when and for what purposes a wife, of her own choosing may leave her home alone.
Over the past months, Shia Afghan woman have remonstrated in Kabul about the new law, while after facing something a tumultuous political backlash from the international community who consider the idea repugnate, Hamid Karzai has since ordered that the law as it stands be thoroughly reviewed.
Some very deluded conservative Muslim clerics, chief among them Mullah Asef Mohseni have defended the law. They claim that only 15% of Shia Afghan muslims will ultimately be effected and that in all other circumstaces, a man and wife will commonly negotiate on how often it is reasonable to sleep together.
For Further Reading: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/07/afghanistan-revises-marital-sex.php#
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/10/afghan-rape-law-shelved-d_n_183750.html
http://southasia.oneworld.net/opinioncomment/afghan-women-up-in-arms-against-controversial-law#
The U.S. Challenge in Afghanistan – By George Friedman and Reva Bhalla
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The decision over whether to send more U.S. troops into Afghanistan may wait until the contested Afghan election is resolved, U.S. officials said Oct. 18. The announcement comes as U.S. President Barack Obama is approaching a decision on the war in Afghanistan. During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, Obama argued that Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time, but Afghanistan was a necessary war. His reasoning went that the threat to the United States came from al Qaeda, Afghanistan had been al Qaeda’s sanctuary, and if the United States were to abandon Afghanistan, al Qaeda would re-establish itself and once again threaten the U.S. homeland. Withdrawal from Afghanistan would hence be dangerous, and prosecution of the war was therefore necessary. After Obama took office, it became necessary to define a war-fighting strategy in Afghanistan. The most likely model was based on the one used in Iraq by Gen. David Petraeus, now head of U.S. Central Command, whose area of responsibility covers both Afghanistan and Iraq. Paradoxically, the tactical and strategic framework for fighting the so-called “right war” derived from U.S. military successes in executing the so-called “wrong war.” But grand strategy, or selecting the right wars to fight, and war strategy, or how to fight the right wars, are not necessarily linked. Read more » This excerpt has been republished by www.jotl.wordpress.com Attribution for the article goes to www.stratfor.com
Weblinks: http://www.president.gov.af/ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125604229971896341.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/22/abdullah-karzai-rigged-af_n_266088.html http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/10/2009102161324251160.html#
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Related Intelligence for STRATFOR Members |
The whispery influence of the American Industrial-Military Complex: Second guessing what Obama will decide!
War proceeds unto finality like any god might move in a mysterious way. Obama may demand to be given time to arrive at a decision about increases in levels of US troop deployment to Afghanistan, but the political pressure from most coalition allies is steadily mounting up.
Hearing about triple-digit figures plucked out of thin air is usually where we start from, and this matters not whether the actual drafting of soldiers come from American military corps or British.
While certain barometer tests still show that Afghanistan is endogenously fractured from top to bottom, the second ever Presidential Elections the country held on August the 20th 2009 helped to ideologically furnish the international community well with prestige.
The “hearts and minds” aspect to ensuring that the coalition forces subsequently quash the Taliban or co-existing terrorist insurgencies, is of grave importance for the sake of eventually managing to lift the country politically out of the doldrums.
Past acts of violence carried out by the Taliban have succeeded in alienating the population and in effectively controlling them by their use of direct intimdation and fear.
Pressing ahead with maintaining security and basic civic services while the Afghan National Government is so limp, is an absolute priority for the international forces.
Weblinks: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/13/politics/washingtonpost/main5381329.shtml
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN3024169220091007?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/08/obama-weighs-pakistan-strategy-troop-increase-for-/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6865421.ece#
Pakistan: The South Waziristan Migration – By Scott Stewart
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Pakistan has been a busy place over the past few weeks. The Pakistani armed forces have been conducting raids and airstrikes against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other foreign Islamist fighters in Bajaur Agency, a district inside Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), while wrapping up their preparations for a major military offensive into South Waziristan. The United States has conducted several successful missile attacks targeting militants hiding in areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border using unmanned aerial vehicles. Threatened by these developments — especially the actions of the Pakistani military — the TTP and its allies have struck back. They have used larger, vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) in attacks close to their bases in the Pakistani badlands to conduct mass-casualty attacks against soft targets in Peshawar and the Swat Valley. They have also used small arms and small suicide devices farther from their bases to attack targets in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, the respective seats of Pakistan’s military and civilian power. Read more »
This excerpt has been republished by www.jotl.wordpress.com Attribution for the article goes to www.stratfor.com
* Weblinks: http://www.nefafoundation.org/reports.html |
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Related Intelligence for STRATFOR MembersPakistan: The Coming Offensive in South Waziristan
Pakistan: The Death of an Uzbek Militant Pakistan: Implications of the Attack on the Army Headquarters U.S.: More Revelations in the Zazi Case |
Irish Boy Band Member dies of natural causes.
Dying while on holiday in Majorca, the autopsy results of Boyzone celebrity Stephen Gately ascertained that his death over night happened due to a build up of fluid on the lungs (clinically known as a pulmonary edema).
Away on vacation with his civil partner Andy Cowles, the singer/popstar was found dead inside an apartment in Andratx on the western tip of the island.
After spending an evening out, arriving home and falling asleep. Stephen Gately failed to wake up, passing away quietly. His family absolutely refute the insinuations some newpapers have made by attributing his death to binge drinking.
His body was taken to Hospital Anatómico Forense de Palma where the autopsy took place.
The remaining band members of Boyzone are said to be distraught. Flown into an airport at Palma de Mallorca and later driven to the resort.
The singer’s body is to flown back to Ireland. His funeral will be held in Dublin on the weekend.
Weblinks:
http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists/stephen-gately/news/159252-stephen-gately-death-tragic-accident
Nobel Geopolitics – By George Friedman.
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U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize last week. Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prize, which was to be awarded to the person who has accomplished “the most or the best work for fraternity among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the promotion of peace congresses.” The mechanism for awarding the peace prize is very different from the other Nobel categories. Academic bodies, such as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, decide who wins the other prizes. Alfred Nobel’s will stated, however, that a committee of five selected by the Norwegian legislature, or Storting, should award the peace prize. The committee that awarded the peace price to Obama consists of chairman Thorbjorn Jagland, president of the Storting and former Labor Party prime minister and foreign minister of Norway; Kaci Kullmann Five, a former member of the Storting and president of the Conservative Party; Sissel Marie Ronbeck, a former Social Democratic member of the Storting; Inger-Marie Ytterhorn, a former member of the Storting and current senior adviser to the Progress Party; and Agot Valle, a current member of the Storting and spokeswoman on foreign affairs for the Socialist Left Party. Read more »
Weblinks: http://www.norway.org.uk/About_Norway/policy/political/storting/
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Related Intelligence for STRATFOR MembersThe Obama Administration and Europe
The Obama Administration and the Former Soviet Union American Isolation and the European Reality The Cuban Missile Crisis: Parallels in History |
This excerpt has been republished by www.jotl.wordpress.com
Attribution for this article goes to www.stratfor.com
Pakistan: Biting the Hand that Feeds You – By Scott Stewart
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The Islamabad office of the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP) was struck by a suicide bomber just after noon local time Oct. 5. The bomber, who wore an improvised explosive device (IED) concealed under his clothing, was wearing the uniform of the Frontier Constabulary, a paramilitary force, and reportedly made his way past perimeter security and into the facility under the ruse of asking to use the restroom. Once inside the facility, he detonated his explosive device, killing five WFP employees — one Iraqi national and four locals — and injuring six others. The attack, claimed by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), would be the first successful TTP attack in Islamabad since June 6, and the first attack against Western interests in a Pakistani city since the June 9 attack against the Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED). In his Oct. 6 call to The Associated Press and other media outlets to claim responsibility for the attack, TTP spokesman Azam Tariq said the group is planning additional attacks against similar targets. “The WFP is promoting the U.S. agenda,” Tariq said, and “such types of suicide attacks will continue in the future. We will target all people and offices working for American interests. We have sent more suicide bombers in various parts of the country and they have been given targets.” Read more » *This excerpt has been republished by www.jotl.wordpress.com *Attribution for this article goes to www.stratfor.com
Weblinks: http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/united_nations_world_food_programme
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Related Intelligence for STRATFOR Members |
The Hurt Locker Document: Commander’s Initial Assessment.
View Hurt Locker trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GxSDZc8etg
The Afghan population have suffered at the hands of the Taliban for far too long, having lived through very arduous periods of conflict which have lasted for 30 years.
What upset has arisen over the matter of ”burden sharing” in respect to this Afghan War, has led to NATO having to guarding itself from exceptionally visceral attacks from the American Military’s top brass.
Being the author of a new document about what strategic progess all coalition forces are making in Afghanistan, (entitled Commander’s Initial Assessment), US Army General Stanley A. McChrystal calls for NATO’s ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) to reformulate a new incremental civic rebuilding strategy.
A lot of revisionist thinking will have inevitably been gone through by the US and Coalition Forces in order to completely renew and represent the political image of Afghanistan to the outside world in the future.
There are slight hints within the context of this assessment of how incredous and scathing the US Military has become with NATO over time.
General McChrystal scoffs at the ISAF for what he perceives as their lapse operational management of situations on the ground in Afghanistan. He goes on to suggest that ISAF needs to re-schematize its operational procedures at the highest chain of command, to strengthen its working relationship with the GIRoA. (Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan)
General McChrystal highlights this point well, he claims that ISAF has not properly understood the basics of counterinsurgency warfare in the context of Afghanistan specifically, and goes on to say that the ISAF must improve how it works in two areas:
- change the operational culture of ISAF to focus on protecting the Afghan people, understand their environment, build relationships with them, and;
- transform ISAF processes to be more operationally efficient and effective, creating more coherent unity of command within ISAF, and fostering stronger unity of effort across the international community.
(Excerpt taken from Commander’s Initial Assessment – 30 August 2009. An UNCLASSIFIED document written by US Army General Stanley A. McChrystal for COMISAF)
Indigenous insurgencies committ ferocious acts of violence against many of their own kinsfolks, whilst the people more generally suffer from a servere crisis of confidence in their government.
Battling to reduce the effect of the people’s mistrust, General McChrystal’s assessment calls also for a “change in overall “Operational Culture” of the ISAF.
No regiment or battalion belonging to either UK, Europe, or America are regarded as simple cannon fodder. McCrystal suggests that any renewed strategy should aim towards elevating the number of recruits enlisting for the Afghan National Security Force (ANSF).
Weblinks: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/oct2009/mccr-o03.shtml
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/21/AR2009092100110.html
http://www.acus.org/new_atlanticist/mcchrystal-biden-afghanistan-plan-short-sighted
