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Terrorism Tag

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on February 24, 2017 14 Comments
With less than 3 weeks before Dutch Election, Frontrunner Geert Wilders has suspended his campaign after a major security breach. A Moroccan-origin Dutch police officer working on Wilders security detail was arrested for passing on his movements to Moroccan criminal gangs. Wilders, campaigning on the promises of de-Islamising the Netherlands and taking the country out of the European Union, is leading in polls ahead of the election. Wilders' Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) is expected to come out as the single largest party in March election and set to play a key role in the formation of the next government. Following Wilders-led PVV’s strong showing in the polls many commentators have started taking the 53 year-old Dutch politician as a serious contender for the post of Prime Minister.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 17, 2017 18 Comments
A Florida man faces federal charges because he wanted to blow up Target stores along the east coast in an attempt to lower stock prices. I am not kidding. Federal authorities have charged Mark Charles Barnett, 48, "with possession or a possession of a destructive device affecting commerce by a previously convicted felon." The man he hired to put those bombs on the shelves turned him in.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 09, 2017 14 Comments
Yesterday, during the Senate's debate on Attorney General Jeff Sessions's confirmation, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) mentioned he wouldn't be surprised if Russia made a move to help the Taliban against us and NATO. It appears he was onto something because Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russia wants to "legitimize the Taliban" in Afghanistan as a way "to undermine the United States and NATO. From The Hill:
“The Russian involvement this year has become more difficult,” Gen. John Nicholson told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “First, they have begun to publicly legitimize the Taliban. This narrative that they promote is that the Taliban are fighting Islamic State and the Afghan government is not fighting Islamic State and that therefore there could be spillover of this group into the region. This is a false narrative.” “I believe its intent is to undermine the United States and NATO,” he later added.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 05, 2017 57 Comments
Muhammad Walid al-Quqa, the explosives chief of Hamas, reportedly blew himself up in what commonly is referred to as a "work accident." The Palestinian Ma'an News Agency reports:
A Hamas fighter succumbed on Sunday to wounds he sustained a day earlier in an “accidental explosion” in the northern Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health said.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 01, 2017 5 Comments
In my memory, there are certain place markers in the history of terrorism that led to where we are today. The 1972 Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes (1972); the bombing of the Beirut Marine Barracks (1983), the World Trade Center attacks (1993 and 2001); the Jerusalem Sbarro Pizza bombing (2001) and the videotaped beheading of Daniel Pearl, February 1, 2002. I don't diminish the significance and horror of other attacks, it's just that these are memory reference points for me.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on January 29, 2017 10 Comments
Yesterday, President Trump signed three new executive actions: reshuffling the Principals Committee of the National Security Council (NSC), restricting administration officials from lobbying, and calling for a comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS. The first memorandum removes the Director of National Intelligence (Dan Coats has yet to be confirmed, no hearing set) and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs (currently Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford) from and adds Steve Bannon to the NSC Principals Committee.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on January 24, 2017 5 Comments
Nearly a month after the Berlin Christmas market attack that killed 12 people and injuring 48 others, local authorities are moving in to close a Berlin mosque linked to the assailant. Tunisian asylum-seeker Anis Amri, who drove a lorry loaded with 20 tonnes of steel beams into a busy Christmas market, had frequented the inner-city mosque. According to German intelligence agency, the "Fussilat Mosque" is known to be a popular hangout for ISIS sympathisers. As far as last month's terrorist attack goes, Merkel government and local authorities have a lot to answer for. More than 40 German agencies "worked" on Amri's case before he carried out the massacre in Berlin. Security agencies failed to stop the Tunisian-born terrorist despite having him on their radar for years. The known ISIS-sympathiser received welfare payments and was allowed to stay in the country despite a deportation order. And despite a EU-wide manhunt, Amri evaded authorities -- travelling through 5 countries in 5 days -- before he was killed by the Italian police in a shootout.

Posted by Mike LaChance on January 19, 2017 9 Comments
You may remember that right after the election, Vice President Elect Mike Pence attended a performance of the show 'Hamilton' where he was booed by people in the audience and given a sanctimonious lecture from the stage. The creator of 'Hamilton,' Lin-Manuel Miranda, didn't deliver the speech to Pence, but he wrote it and no matter what anyone says, it was intended as a dig at Pence. Flash forward to now. Obama has granted clemency to convicted terrorist Oscar Lopez Rivera and Lin-Manuel Miranda couldn't be happier about it. He's even going to do a special performance of Hamilton for the man.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on January 10, 2017 14 Comments
Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with its plans of creating an international Islamic army. Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance (IMA) comprises of 39 Sunni Muslim states including nuclear-armed Pakistan. According to a report published this week by the British newspaper Guardian, former Pakistan army chief Raheel Sharif has been tapped to become the first commander of this "Muslim Nato". Saudi-led Islamic army is not backed by Iran, which is busy building a rival Muslim block by financing and arming standing armies and terrorist militias in Shia-majority countries and regions. The declared aim of this military alliance is to fight terrorism. Ironically, its leading member states are direct sponsors of Jihadi terrorism across the world. Pakistan's military actively nurtures and sponsors Islamic terrorist groups operating against Hindu-majority India, along with its long-standing ties with Taliban in Afghanistan. Gulf Arab States and Turkey have supported and funded Islamic State (ISIS) at one time or another.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 01, 2017 1 Comment
Authorities in Turkey have launched a manhunt for a gunman dressed as Santa Claus who stormed into a nightclub in Istanbul in the first hour of 2017 and slaughtered 39 people. Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahim said the victims included 15 foreign nationals. Officials identified five as Turkish nationals while others came from Lebanon, Morocco, Israel, Libya, and Saudi Arabia. Police officer Burak Yildiz, 22, and security guard Hatice Karcilar, 29, also lost their lives.

Posted by Mary Chastain on December 31, 2016 7 Comments
A gunman dressed as Santa Claus killed at least 35 people at a Reina Club in Istanbul, Turkey, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day. From the Associated Press:
An armed assailant who is believed to have been dressed in a Santa Claus costume opened fire at a nightclub in Istanbul during New Year's celebrations, killing at least 35 people and wounding 40 others, according to Istanbul's governor Vasip Sahin and Turkey's state-run news agency. Sahin called the incident a "terror attack" but did not say who might have carried it out.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on December 31, 2016 9 Comments
Germany's Angela Merkel announced in her New Year's address that Islamist terrorism is the biggest threat facing Germany. Considering that this would likely not be the case if it weren't for her own open door policy, this is a startling admission.  Merkel went on to berate anyone and everyone who does not share her worldview, and insisted that all Germany needs is more laws and improved security to protect her people from the terrorist element she has welcomed with open arms. Reuters reports:
Islamist terrorism is the biggest test facing Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday in a New Year's address to the nation, and vowed to introduce laws that improve security after a deadly attack before Christmas in Berlin.
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