World Threats

The world applauded Saudi King Abdullah’s royal decree allowing women to vote in the 2015 municipal elections and even to become part of the Shura council. He also overturned the sentencing of a female driver to a lashing. In Saudi Arabia, these are big moves.

Not being allowed to drive and requiring a male chaperone will put a damper on turnout and theirability to vote as they wish, but it’s still an electrifying move to appease the youth.  2015 is a long time away, though, and King Abdullah is of old age, so we’ll see if it actually happens. This type of staged reform is what is needed in Saudi Arabia, as opposed to an Arab Spring revolution.

The question is what comes next. Lifting the ban on women driving seems the most likely next step as there is a large amount of support for it, especially since it will save families money who have to hire drivers that are usually Pakistani immigrants. However, there is a growing number of voices urging the Royal Family to reform the religious police.

It appears that the Royal Family is trying to win the clerical order to its side before moving against the religious police. An advisor to King Abdullah, Sheikh Abd Al-Muhsin Al-Obikan, is a senior cleric and he is accusing the religious police of violating Islamic principles (which, you can imagine, is very strong language).

The Middle East Media Research Institute summarized his comments:

Read the rest of this entry »

The United West, an anti-Islamist activist group, is forcing the 2012 presidential candidates to take a stand on whether to prosecute the Muslim Brotherhood fronts in the U.S. tied to Hamas. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was the first to say that he would, and now businessman Herman Cain is on board, also saying that he’d list the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Former Senator Rick Santorum offered a less compelling answer, but said the government must prosecute anyone tied to terrorist activity.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s news company is teaming up with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to launch “Alarab” next year, a 24/7 news network that is sure to reflect Alwaleed’s anti-Israel viewpoint.

Bloomberg will provide Alarab with five hours of financial-related programming. The focus of the network is to cover the Arab Spring with an emphasis on free speech and press. The manager of the network, Jamal Khashoggi, says it is “going to be to the left of Al-Arabiya and to the right of Al-Jazeera.” With an estimated networth of $19.6 billion, Prince Alwaleed will be in a position to influence the region like never before.

Alwaleed is the Saudi prince that sought to make a $10 million donation to New York City after the 9/11 attacks, only to have his check returned to him by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The mayor was offended at Alwaleed’s response to the disaster. He said, “At times like this one, we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack. I believe the government of the United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause… Our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek,” he said.

In other words, the “root cause” of the attacks was America’s alliance with Israel, and if future attacks are to be avoided, that relationship must be downgraded. After Giuliani turned Alwaleed away, the Saudi prince said the mayor had caved to “Jewish pressure.” Alwaleed apparently believes that the U.S. government is held hostage to the “Zionist lobby.”

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

Back on September 2, I reviewed the contradictory reports about Qaddafi’s hiding spot. Different accounts put him in Sirte, Sabha, Bin Walid or Ghadamis, a town on the Algerian border. The lattermost option received the less attention:

An Algerian newspaper reports that Qaddafi was in the border town of Ghadamis when he called the Algerian President to ask for entry. According to the report, he refused to take his call. This could very well just be a planted story by the Algerian government to try to make nice with the NTC after taking in some of Qaddafi’s family members (such as Hannibal, his son) and materially supporting the regime during the civil war.

Now, the NTC is thinking that he is in Ghadamis, protected by Tuareg tribesmen. Saif al-Islam is said to still be in Bani Walid and Mutassem is in Sirte. The senior official said that Qaddafi may have moved to Ghadamis a week ago from Samnu. Support this account is the fact that Qaddafi loyalists just attacked the Libyan forces in Ghadamis after crossing over from Algeria.

Meanwhile, the Guardian has this interesting piece of information:

It was reported from Belarus, meanwhile, that a military plane from Libya landed in Minsk on Monday with 15 people on board. It was immediately moved into a hangar. The Belorusski Partizan said it was met by diplomats and intelligence officials, fuelling rumours that Gaddafi and his family were on the aircraft.

The top Iranian naval commander is vowing to send the country’s warships into the Atlantic Ocean and, specifically, the Gulf of Mexico. The Iranian navy is no match for the U.S., but Iran’s move into the Western Hemisphere poses a major asymmetrical threat to the country.

“Like the arrogant powers that are present near our marine borders, we will also have a powerful presence close to American marine borders,” the Iranian state media quoted Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari as saying.

He rejected the possibility of a direct hotline between the U.S. and Iran,saying, “When we go to the Gulf of Mexico, we will establish direct communication with them. In the view of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the illegitimate presence of the U.S. in the Persian Gulf makes no sense.”

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

“President” Saleh (read: Dictator Saleh) has returned to Yemen after spending three months in Saudi Arabia being treated for wounds suffered in a dramatic assassination attempt. A senior Saudi official had previously told the press that Saleh was not going to go back to Yemen, but apparently the Saudis decided it was in their interest to let him return. This is probably because of a fear over Al-Qaeda’s growing presence.

Protests immediately erupted upon his return, and a suicide bomber tried to kill his Defense Minister. At least 450 people have been killed this year. About 50 protesters were killed upon Saleh’s return. Tribesmen attacked a military base near Sanaa, killing General Abdullah al-Klibi. A Presidential Guard base was also captured near Sanaa. Tribes in Naham attacked the 63^rd brigade after two tribal members were killed. Tribal loyalty is higher than political loyalty, and this fighting between the regime and the tribes spells doom for Saleh.

Saleh’s clerical allies have issued a fatwa condemning the effort to overthrow him. Saleh has no religious legitimacy and this will make no impact.

The question now is what General Ali Mohsen does. How much longer before his forces, aligned with the opposition, violently intervene and take part in a full-scale revolt?

The U.S. is calling on Syrian dictator Bashar Assad to step down and is increasingly persuaded that the uprising against his rule will be victorious. As the world wonders who will replace the regime, an Islamist-dominated group called the Syrian National Council is being embraced by Turkey and the Obama administration State Department. Genuine secular forces, meanwhile, are being left to the wayside as they struggle to save their country from both Assad and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood has stated, “We have a desire to coordinate the position of the opposition.” With support from the Turkish government and a naïve U.S. State Department, it can achieve this objective. On September 15, opposition activists formed the Syrian National Council in Istanbul, the latest in a long list of umbrella groups to be formed since the uprising began.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

Newt Gingrich was the first GOP presidential candidate to say his Attorney General will probe the Hamas-linked, Muslim Brotherhood fronts called the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust. I reported on this for FrontPage Magazine on September 19. Gingrich has been, by far, the most outspoken candidate on the internal Islamist threat, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and demonstrates a well-educated view on the problem.

Now, Herman Cain has joined him. The United West, the activist group that first approached Gingrich on the issue, asked Cain the same thing. Cain responded affirmatively, as you can see on the organization’s website. He was also asked whether his State Department would designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and he said it would.

This is great news, but as I reported for Pajamas Media on July 30, he showed himself to be ill-informed about the Brotherhood’s networks in America by going to one of the top Brotherhood-affiliated mosques in Virginia as he tried to make amends for saying communities should have the right to ban mosques.

I am very happy that Cain has joined Gingrich on this issue, but his past error still concerns me. In my opinion, Gingrich remains the best candidate on the issue of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Republican presidential debate last night may prove to be decisive in the race. Rick Perry received the biggest boos and criticisms and Herman Cain had a terrific performance that could vault him to the head of the second-tier group as Michele Bachmann seemed to fade away.

Rick Perry suffered the most in the debate. He was loudly booed by the audience when he defended granting in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, stating that “you don’t have a heart” if you oppose their education. He was less intensely booed when he defended his mandating of HPV vaccinations for schoolgirls, saying he erred on the side of life.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

On Saturday, September 24, I will be speaking at an Eagles Wings conference in Wayne, NJ. The topic is, “Radical Islam in 2011 and How You Can Help Defeat It.” The presentation is a briefing and a guide for activism.

My session will begin at approximately 3:30 PM EST (email me at tdcanalyst at aol dot com for exact time). It will be held at Calvary Temple at 1111 Preakness Avenue. Click here for directions and the event’s website.

Iran has finally freed two American hikers it has held as spies since July 2009, just in time for Ahmadinejad to brag about how reasonable he is during his address to the U.N. General Assembly. The Iranian President will hail their release as a conciliatory gesture to the U.S., skipping over the fact that they were completely innocent and never should have been arrested in the first place.

The three hikers were Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd, who is engaged to Bauer. They were hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan when, according to the Iranian government, they went across the border. The group says that if they did, it was a mistake. They were held as American spies. Shourd was released last year after she went on a hunger strike and a $500,000 bail was posted. The regime held onto Fattal and Bauer, and on August 20, sentenced them to eight years in prison.

Ahmadinejad spoke in favor of giving them a minimal punishment, and there was speculation that they’d be released at the end of Ramadan. The judiciary, stocked with opponents of Ahmadinejad, shot down the talk and they remained in custody. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, locked in a power struggle with Ahmadinejad, is assumed to be behind the challenge to him. Ali Alfoneh, an expert on Iran with the American Enterprise Institute, said that Khamenei “really wants to humiliate Ahmadinejad before the U.N. visit” by preventing their release.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

On September 21 at 6:30 PM, the Ground Zero Mosque will open its doors to show a photo exhibit in its community space. Park51 is hoping to discourage its opponents by declaring an early victory in spite of its recent embarrassments and setbacks. This grand opening does not mean that the fight is over. The project still has a long way to go until completion.

The exhibit, called “NYChildren,” will showcase the work of Danny Goldfield, who photographed children in the city originating from 171 countries around the world. About $70,000 was raised in less than two months for the temporary community space through KickStarter.com. Over 700 invitations have been distributed for the grand opening, and visitors to Park51’s website are registering to attend now. The exhibit will be up for three months. The site will be open Monday through Friday, 12:30 p.m. to 9:00 pm beginning on Thursday.

The photo exhibit is not the Ground Zero Mosque’s only attraction. It will have various classes including yoga and Brazilian martial arts, discussion groups, arts programs and, of course, a section for Muslim prayer services. Religious services have been held in the old Burlington Coat factory since 2009. The planned prayer space will accomodate over 2,000 attendees, rivaling St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Park51 claims the site is a cultural center, not a mosque, because it will eventually have a gymnasium, swimming pool, art galleries, and other non-religious facilities.

Click here to read the rest of my FPM article.

Jim Lacey has written an excellent article covering some of the damning stuff we did find after overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Yes, the huge stockpiles weren’t there as we expected, but critics of the war have gone too far in painting Saddam Hussein as basically non-threatening.  I also wrote an article on this topic that you can check out by clicking here.

Here are some facts that Lacey mentions that it seems almost everyone has forgotten and aren’t mentioned in my article:

• Saddam had already completed construction of an anthrax production facility, which was a week away from going live. If it had been permitted to go into production, this one facility could have produced ten tons of weaponized anthrax a year. Experts estimate that anthrax spores that infect the skin will kill 50 percent of untreated victims. Inhaled anthrax will kill 100 percent of untreated victims and 50 percent of those receiving immediate treatment. That means that a mere 1 percent of Saddam’s annual production (200 pounds) sprayed by crop-duster over New York City would have killed upwards of three million people

•  Saddam even had a huge bio-warfare production facility masquerading as the Samarra Drug Company. This facility would have been capable of producing up to 10,000 liters of deadly pathogens a year. It was less than a month from going into production when the invasion of Iraq began

• Investigators also found two labs that appeared to be producing animal vaccines. However, according to investigators, all of the equipment was “dual use . . . and easily diverted to produce smallpox or other pathogenic viruses.” Another nearby lab was busily working on cowpox vaccines, with the exact same equipment necessary to create smallpox.

•  Between 1996 and 2002 — the eve of the invasion — spending on WMD projects increased 40-fold, and the number of specific projects increased from 40 to 3,200

• Saddam’s minister of military industrialization, Abdullah Mullah al-Huwaysh,stated that Saddam was working to reconstruct all of his WMD programs within five years. In his words, this would have included “a sizable nuclear inventory on hand for immediate use.”

• One set of details appears in a report written six weeks after 9/11. It states that Iraq was sending an administrative officer to establish and oversee a terrorist training camp, and lists the equipment being dispatched in the first set of supplies:

15,000 Kalashnikov 7.62-mm rifles
15,000 [SKS] rifles
5,000 Browning pistols
5,000 Markarov pistols
1 high-quality photocopier

The memorandum ends with the names of 52 fighters waiting for training in the camp.

There are very reasonable reasons to feel the invasion of Iraq was the wrong thing to do, but opposition to the war should not lead to a misrepresentation of the threat Saddam Hussein truly did pose.

My home town of Middleburgh NY was very hard hit by Hurricane Irene. Nearby Schoharie, faced an even worse fate, with up to 60% of its houses to be condemned.

Most of our businesses were hard hit, and floodwaters damaged homes even outside of the 100-year flood zone. It was the worst calamity to hit our community since 1914.

However, the response of the people of Middleburgh, from around the state, and even from around the country, was spectacular. I played a role in organizing hundreds of volunteers while the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, local churches, and others aided us in our time of need.

Still, even though the majority of the cleanup phase is ending, we’re still looking at up to one billion dollars worth of damage in Schoharie County. We are just now coming to terms with the massive scope of this disaster. Many still remain homeless while damage in neighboring Schoharie may be so bad that the Village itself may have to dissolve.

The Village of Middleburgh, on which I serve on the Board, has set up a relief fund. If you can spare a dollar or two to help us, it would be much appreciated. We hope to get money to fix our roads, assist our volunteer fire department, and help the homeowners and businesses get back on their feet.

We’re doing better, but it’s a long road ahead. Please help make it a little easier.

Terrorism in Europe appears to be falling from collective concern, but it’s still a problem that is alive and well. In Great Britain, an anti-terror raid caught seven men who were planning an al Qaeda-style mass casualty plot.

The suspects, six men and one woman, all aged 22-32, are reported to be involved in Islamic extremism and to be British citizens of Pakistani descent.

According to the LWJ, British media is reporting that the raids were linked to an attack in the works.

The Guardian is claiming that the attack was in ‘advanced stages:‘

Whitehall sources described it as a “major intelligence-led operation” and added that the latest arrests showed that the threat from extremist Islamist ideology had not evaporated despite the deaths of Bin Laden and other prominent al-Qaida individuals in recent US drone strikes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

But there were no weapons or explosives found.