Freedom

Activists in Saudi Arabia have launched a major campaign against the authority in Saudi Arabia for the release of a jailed author, Turki al-Hamad. The Middle East has played home to the highest double standard of the century. If events happen in Syria and Iran not excluding Libya during gaddafi, they catch the attention of the media because their adversaries control the media. Who is talking about the massive clampdown and government onslaught in Bahrain? Saudi has been gauging freedom over the years and all have passed almost unnoticed. Click here

Human Trafficking

Nigeria has been notorious for human trafficking. The last report was the most obnoxious. About 30 Nigerian young girls on a daily basis are transported and trafficked to Mali each day. Improvement is said to be happening now but how plausible is this considering the last and latest nauseous report of Mali. View

Gaddafi and Sarkozy: The Deal

I have said it times without number and evidences are beginning to emerge that erstwhile French President, Nicholas Sarkozy, wanted maummar Gaddafi out because of the funds he is unable to pay. The first bomb to land in Tripoli was from the French attack jet. Sarkozy worked tirelessly at the United Nations towards the ouster of Maummar Gaddafi. He accepted more than 50million euros to fund his campaign from the dead Gaddafi.  Learn More

Baby and Language

The most amazing discovery about babies has just been made public. Babies start learning languages right from the uteros. View

Pregnancy

The usage of antidepressants during pregnancy has no health risks on babies. A new study recently found that the use of antidepressants during pregnancy is not related to higher risk of infant death or stillbirth. Click here

Appreciation and Gratitude

Appreciation, as it has been said goes along with humility and value. It creates pathways for opportunities and blissful advancement because little things count. Appreciation opens doors. It is a good therapy for the New Year. View

Cyberwarfare: Israel and Iran

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the opening of a new initiative to train young Israelis in cyberwarfare, said that Israel’s defense systems are under attack from Iran and vowed to create an ‘Iron Dome’ for the country’s networks. “Israel’s vital systems are under attack from Iran and other elements. This will only increase as we enter the digital age,” he said in a Tuesday speech at Ashkelon Academic College.

The cyberwarfare training program is three years long and aimed at outstanding pupils between the ages of 16 and 18. The Iron Dome is an Israeli missile defense system that helped defend the country from Hamas rocket fire during the Gaza-Israel conflict in November.

News: Clashes in West Bank

Eight men were reportedly wounded by live fire during Tuesday clashes in the West Bank town of Tamoun, after Israeli troops entering the town were approached by men hurling rocks. The clashes followed the arrest of a man allegedly belonging to militant group Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian source told AP. Israeli soldiers dressed as vegetable vendors arrested the man on Tuesday morning, the source said, adding that the clashes were started by the locals to prevent further arrests.

Gun and Bread

Humans everywhere are fighting two wars in two fronts. Fighting against the gun and fighting for bread. The United States has concealed this reality for long but now she cannot any longer. Click Here

The War Drum: Iran, the US and Israel

The imbroglio between Iran and the United States continues to assume a kind of muscular dimension on a daily basis. Obama instituted a law to stem the growing influence of Iran in Latin America in which the Iranian regime responded with vitriolic attacks. Now, Iran is flexing her muscle in the Strait of Hormuz in a bid to make the US and Israel know that she is not Iraq or Afghanistan. Click Here

Opinion: Who is killing the Internet?

Governments have been blamed everywhere of curtailing information and communication; from wiretapping in the United States and Russia to internet users' identification in China as well as North Korea and Iran's proclamation of national web. Apart from the government, there is a whole new world of internet killers; the trolls. Click Here

News

Luanda — The number of deaths following the tragic incident recorded on Monday at 07:30 pm at the gates of Cidadela Sports stadium, in Luanda, rose from nine to ten, said Tuesday the spokesperson of National Fire-fighters Department, Faustino Sebastião. Click here

News

 

Demonstrators lead protest against African migrants on December 31, 2012

Israelis in Tel Aviv demonstrated on Monday against African migrants after a young Eritrean man was arrested for the alleged rape of an 83-year-old woman. The rape reportedly took place over several hours in the backyard of the woman's building. According to police, the man was identified by DNA at the scene that matched DNA from a prior arrest.

News

Picture showing Venezuela's Vice President, Elias Jaua and Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad {Reuters} Iran has blasted US President Barack Obama for enacting a law aimed at countering Tehran's alleged influence in Latin America, saying it was an overt intervention in the region. "It is an overt intervention in Latin American affairs... that shows they are not familiar with new world relations," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters on Tuesday. The United States, he said, "still lives in the Cold War era and considers Latin America as its back yard". "We recommend that they respect the nations' right in today's world... world public opinion does not accept such an interventionist move." Mehmanparast said Tehran's relation with all nations, in particular with Latin American countries, was "friendly" based on "mutual respect and interest". On Friday, Obama enacted the law which through a new diplomatic and political strategy to be designed by the State Department is aimed to counter Iran's alleged influence in Latin America. The Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act, passed by legislators earlier in 2012, calls for the department to develop a strategy within 180 days to "address Iran's growing hostile presence and activity" in the region. The text also calls on the Department of Homeland Security to bolster surveillance at US borders with Canada and Mexico to "prevent operatives from Iran, the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps), its Quds Force, Hezbollah or any other terrorist organisation from entering the Untied States". However, senior State Department and intelligence officials have indicated there is no apparent indication of illicit activities by Iran. Iran, placed under a series of international sanctions because of its suspect nuclear programme, has opened six new embassies in the region since 2005 - bringing the total to 11 - and 17 cultural centres.

News

Security officials in Egypt say they have detained an Israeli army officer on the Sinai peninsula after he crossed the border illegally.

News

About 60 dead, 200 injured in stadium stampede late on Monday in Ivory Coast's Abidjan - Emergency official, radio

News: Religious Barracks

 

A nation at war with itself. Exactly how did we get here? This is meant to be the first question on the lips of every responsible statesman. It is an ironical irony that those who are meant to ask the question which is a prerequisite for solving the quagmire, debacle, menace and attack inferno are covertly happy with the status quo because it allows them stay longer in power and loot. For how long will tanks line the 'Holy Homes?' Divide and rule.

News

Indian police have said they expect to formally charge five of six suspects with murder in the death of 23-year-old woman who was raped on a moving bus in New Delhi last month.
The sixth suspect in the case that has outraged the country is under 18-years old. Under Indian law, juveniles cannot be prosecuted for murder.

Police ordered a bone test for the sixth accused to confirm his age, according to a police officer who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to reporters.
Rajan Bhagat, New Delhi police spokesman, said on Tuesday that a charge-sheet in the case will be filed in court on Thursday.

Police also said they expected to receive the victim's postmortem report on Tuesday.
The suspects face the death penalty if convicted. The physiotherapy student died last week in a Singapore hospital where she had been sent for emergency treatment after the crime in India's capital on December 16.

News

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pronounced 2013 to be the year of “statehood and independence” for Palestine. In an address celebrating the 48th anniversary of the Fatah Movement, Abbas expressed hope that prisoners will be freed and refugees returned to their homeland in 2013. In November, the UN overwhelmingly voted to grant Palestine non-member observer status. Israel strongly opposes Palestinian statehood, despite the notion’s widespread international support.

Counter-Terrorism: Abuse of Intelligence

ABUSE OF INTELLIGENCE

Redefining Counter-Terrorism Strategy

Nothing, it has been said, is new under the sun but the only thing humans have successfully done is to keep off of the learning game despite the whole projection in education. Terrorism is not new in human history but what continues to be new is the increase brutality of conventional military in response. The world has seen the US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 as well as the Bali bombing in 2002 and several other attacks in India with the foremost being the Mumbai twin bombings. Russia has several from Chenchya and in the North Caucusus. That on Israel needs no mention. With all these, the world learns not. What is the marriage between conventional military and terrorism? Clearly limited except to tell the people 'Might is Right.'

If the military is the best panacea for terrorism, Israel today will be the safest place in the world. The US today would have gone to bed with all eyes closed after taking on al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan but instead these countries are becoming increasingly insecure. One does not need a sorcerer or a soothsayer to reveal that conventional military has no strategic and long term cure for terrorism. The only advantage of conventional military is on the tactical side. The tactical side must be backed up by the strategic long-term policies which, based on historical counter-insurgency measures must encompass both intelligence and socio-economic revamp. The most crucial fuel of terrorism is social and economic ostracism. When a people feel they are not really valued, alienated and trampled upon, they result to subversion. Perceived oppression begets terrorism.

In case of the current world terrorist activities, terrorism has largely been associated with religion. It now looks as if Islam is Terrorism. Action and reaction are equal but opposite. Going by global events, it is only a locked heart that will fail to see that Islam has been touched with painful hands by powers of the world. Power lies West, culture lies East. Power and culture are at war. Power has shown the world that might is right, culture wants to prove that all wars are war, either by powerful military force or by selective killings. To win the war on selective killings known as terrorism, intelligence must marry root-causes not conventional military. BUT, the first is for power to check itself. Power needs real and deep introspection. Power must not blatantly oppress culture; either its religion or manner of governance. Ironically, conventional military is the best fuel for terrorism because it makes the terrorists defiant and turns people's hearts to them. It is a case of choosing the known devil than the coming angel.

The strategy of terrorism is a semblance of simultaneous attacks from several directions (SWARM). A good question is: How can conventional military fight these acts in all directions? Almost impossible. They have no uniforms, they are readily among the populace. Some of them are capable of even watching an after-blast, in fact, even sample people's comments. Fighting terrorism means the army or conventional military must create the swarm units to swarm the terrorists. This has cogently been elusive in modern military strategy on counter-terrorism. Terrorism cannot be fought with large mass of troops. Terrorists cannot be defeated with powerful and massive military firepower. Civilian casualties is what this brings. The only thing this can and will do is to alienate the population the more thereby creating more and more fertile grounds for the terrorists. Tactical success no matter how blossoming can be locked by strategic failure. Japan today would have been an indirect enemy of the United States after the American occupation if her economy and leaders are corrupt like Afghanistan and Karzai.. Swarms of attacks would have wearied out the US in Tokyo a long time ago.

The only way to counter terrorism is to combine intelligence and long-term strategy of winning the hearts of the people through the destruction of all insurgents gasoline (reasons for insurgency). The ember of annoyance and ill-feelings must be logically extinguished. Every terrorist cell has reasons for actions, both remote and immediate. Intelligence brings out these causes while strategy gradually eliminates them one after the other. Religion-influenced terrorism is on the highest scale today. Terrorists easily relapse to religious dogmatism to gain converts and spread tentacles. Identification of the rationale for the attack(s) must be the first mission. Rather than wage war on the people or show a strong antagonism of their religious belief and doctrine, a consciously sustained campaign of what the religion really stands for and truly preaches should be sought from well-meaning clerics and must be publicly revealed as well as generally debated. First strategy. This will be the foundation of intelligence gathering.

In state-sponsored terrorism, the first strategy should also be rationale identification. After this, the government of the attacked state must be ready to launch swarms of secret missions on the brains behind the cell(s) within the attacking state circles. A perfect illustration is the death of nuclear scientists in Iran. Be that as it may, government over the years have not learn anything worthwhile owing to the numerous superfluous firepower usually employed. The US failed in Vietnam, USSR failed in Afghanistan. The US is again failing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Russia is failing in the North Caucusus and Nigeria is failing in Borno and the Northeastern States. Kenya cannot close her eyes because of al Shabab. ECOWAS could also be preparing to fail in Mali if it employs massive firepower and makes the rebels turn to swarm tactics using cells.

BRIEF LESSON FROM HISTORY

From 1948, Britain was combated with the Malaya Revolutionary Liberation Army (MRLA) insurgents mainly composed of 99% Chinese and few Malays as well as Indians. The insurgents had drawn a map of a three-stage Marxist revolution. The first attack came in June, 1948. Britain wasted no time in reacting. It was swift, ferocious, good co-ordination and excellent perseverance. Major I A Nass says ' Britain remained an outstanding model of success of regular armed forces fighting low-intensity internal insurgency.' Major Daniel S. Challis, writing in the United State of America Command and General Staff College (USCGSC) journal said that 'no better example demonstrates how properly trained forces, committed to a clear strategic objective, can engage seasoned guerrillas on their own turf and win'. British and Malay troops numbered about 60,000 police and later 40,000 Home Guards. To decisively swarm the guerrillas, another private army of Payan Kampong Guards reaching over 20,000 joined the fight.

The approach of Britain was a combination of economic, social, political, psychological and military means. All these were merged into civil action programmes and combat action activities which were resource intensive, requiring long time planning and co-ordination. Real patience. There was no quick-fix approach which Nigeria is employing in the case of Boko Haram. Military operations were brought under police and civilian (political) control at all levels. There was tough curfew enforcement, amnesty was granted to communist insurgents who freely surrendered and there was a nation-wide registration system. All these made the work of the rebels difficult. Registration in particular made it cumbersome for the insurgents to mix freely with the population. Realising the root causes of the insurgency from assessment of the situation, the British embarked on programmes aimed at addressing the fundamental social, economic, psychological and political issues. All these contributed to the demise of the insurgents as they became brutal in response and alienated the people from themselves.

NO LESSON LEARNED

Numerous wars have been fought after that of Britain in Malaya against guerrillas and terrorists with no lessons learned. The most catastrophic are the ongoing ones in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen not excluding Somalia. Nigeria has double to deal with, Boko Haram in the North and Tuareg rebels of Mali in the Sahel. Nigeria's counter-terrorist measures though not sophisticated tend to mirror and tilt towards that of the US. In fact, US is her role model in all ways but good governance and value of citizens' lives as well as sound economy. Even Sri Lanka was able to decisively ward off the Tamil Sea Tigers rebels when the Sri Lankan Navy shifted to light fleet and swift vessels attacking the Sea Tigers from all angles (given the war back to them the way it was coming). More so, the government was also perfecting its political arsenal as well. It was sharpening its governance polemics to win the people's hearts especially after being accused of human rights violations. The US fought al Shabab in Somalia and the Taliban in Afghanistan without good knowledge of the terrain and with no strategy of winning the hearts of the people. Such blunder she committed too in Iraq. Exactly what Nigeria is committing now in Borno and the Northeastern part and ECOWAS might likely commit in Mali.

The only lesson we have learned from history is that we have not learned anything. Not until when nations learn to study the background rationales for terrorism and come up with broad long-term plans and counter-terrorism strategy based on more police actions and intelligence gathering will terrorism subside. The whole affair now is that with all the mammoth military force being employed and deployed, terrorism is on the rise because the people are terrorised in mostly two fronts (militia-terrorism and military-terrorism). The likely result of this is for the people to accept the 'un-uniformed' ones who are likely to eat and sleep with and around them. They will continue to choose the devil than the deep blue sea unless the sea presents a smiling face and reduce aggression to the barest minimum. Until they realise and know the sea will not swallow and drown them before they can decide to swim in it.