The Political Conundrum!

San Francisco, a city largely known for its anti-military reputation and liberal leanings, voted on Nov. 4 to save the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program that is slated to be phased out of the city's public schools.

War protester Steve Baggarly was sentenced to one day in jail Monday after pleading guilty to trespassing at Oceana Naval Air Station during an air show.

Iranians welcomed Barack Obama's victory as the next U.S. president Wednesday as a triumph over the unpopular policies of President George W. Bush. Prominent lawmaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said the vote for Obama means Bush has failed.

Russia will deploy missiles near NATO member Poland in response to U.S. missile defense plans, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday in his first state of the nation speech.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai made an immediate demand of Barack Obama on Wednesday, saying the president-elect must prevent civilian casualties as Afghan villagers alleged that airstrikes killed or wounded dozens of women and children in a wedding party.

Syrian president Bashar al Assad has been following a double-thronged strategy.
I just wrote an article for the Middle East Times on what could probably be Assad's next move.
You can read the full article here.
Here is an excerpt:

Not a week goes by now without Syria showing up on the radar. In fact, after I analyzed the recent slew of incidents and their possible interpretations in my article last week titled "It is Clutch Time for Syria," this week brought new puzzling developments.
It all started with the U.S. raid in Syrian territory that allegedly targeted a major al-Qaida in Iraq recruiter, Abu Ghadiyah. While this happened five years too late, the timing seems odd.

Interestingly, an Arab diplomat based in Beirut told the Saudi news Web site Elaph.com that the U.S. operation was not only destined to target al-Qaida facilitators but also to send a clear warning to Damascus. Indeed, the diplomat affirmed that Washington wanted to tell Syria not to think about invading Lebanon again.

This follows several media reports which stated that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conveyed this message verbally to Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem when they recently met. Also reportedly the French President Nicolas Sarkozy administration told Damascus the same thing.

Western nations started to worry when Syria moved 10,000 special forces to its border with northern Lebanon. Syria claimed the reason behind the move was to prevent al-Qaida-linked terrorists to enter Syrian territory and create havoc. This explanation is half-baked at best. Especially in light of what occurred this past Thursday when it was learned that Syria is also beginning to amass troops on the border with eastern Lebanon. Syria is indeed preparing its next move.

Every once in a while, it is necessary to step back from the abstract world of ideas and see what the ideas actually mean in people's lives. That is particularly true as the new administration enters and has to think about what the radical Islamist agenda really means to those who live under it.

It is also worth noting the little-noticed support some of the worst parts of the Islamist agenda get from so-called moderate and mainstream Islamist groups who are tied to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Nothing could be a more stark reminder than the story of the young Somali woman who was stoned to death for adultery after reporting to authorities that she had been raped.

Amnesty International reported that partway through the stoning nurses checked whether Aisha was still alive. They pulled her body out of the ground to ascertain she was still breathing before the stoning continued.

A Unicef statement said: 'She sought protection from the authorities, who then accused her of adultery and sentenced her to death. 'A child was victimised twice - first by the perpetrators of the rape and then by those responsible for administering justice.'

This is what the Taliban means when it talks of sharia law and what has in mind for the rest of the world. This is why the idea of engaging in talks with the Taliban over the future of Afghanistan is such a dangerous idea.

The jihadists cannot compromise and have already demonstrated, during their barbaric governance of Afghanistan from 1996-2001 that they are cannot be part of a civilized coalition to govern anything.

It is worth remembering that the Muslim Brotherhood, including its supposedly enlightened leaders like Tariq Ramadan, do not condemn this barbaric form of justice. Why? Because they can't without disowning the same general goals the Ikhwan share with the jihadist: A world under sharia law where this is not only condoned but mandatory. My full blog is here.

This article is another in the ongoing series by Animesh Roul and Frank Hyland, portraying the mounting problem of international terrorism in India.

A variety of “signatures” present themselves to CT investigators following any terrorist attack. In the case of the 30 October multiple bombings in India’s Assam region, the heightened level of sophistication evidenced in the attacks indicates that the local perpetrators almost certainly had help from outside the country.

A series of improvised explosive devices (IED), possibly numbering ten or more, were timed to detonate at midday on 30 October, turning markets and other locations teeming with shoppers and office personnel into scenes of chaos, killing over 80 people and wounding almost 500 others. In addition to reports of the use of a grenade in one attack, and the concealment of IEDs in the near-ubiquitous rickshaws and motorbikes, a car bomb was reportedly detonated near the home of the Chief Minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi. Investigators reported that large quantities of High Explosive (HE) materials had been incorporated into the IEDs and that the sequencing of the attacks suggested strongly that timers had been employed as well. Indian authorities acknowledged that they had had some advance notice of the intent of the perpetrators to carry out one or more attacks in the area, but were taken aback by the scale of the incidents. [For additional details, please see, Serial Blast in Northeast India: ULFA/HuJI Hand Suspected ! By Animesh Roul on CT Blog, dated 30 October]

The Assam region in India’s northeast has suffered separatist attacks for decades, part of the ongoing internecine strife that has plagued the multiethnic area since the creation of the nation of India in 1947. Assam has become the base for a large number of separatist groups, and literally thousands of Indian citizens have lost their lives in attacks over the past two decades. The proximity of Assam to mostly-Muslim Bangladesh, home to a growing number of radical groups and their headquarters in recent years, makes it much simpler to plan, support, and carry out attacks inside India.

The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) remains the primary suspect in the 30 October attacks. Founded in 1979, the group first established bases in Myanmar and Bangladesh, then began its campaign for an independent Assam in 1990. Reminiscent of Al-Qa’ida’s leadership redoubt along the lawless Pakistan/Afghanistan border, ULFA’s headquarters and leadership hideout is suspected to be in the China/Myanmar border area. ULFA is reported to be among the groups within India that have received training, funds, and other support from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISID), another of the “Cat’s Paws” in the two nations’ persistent, ongoing armed struggle with each other.

Suspicion that ULFA had received external help rests on the aforementioned heightened sophistication of the 30 October attacks, contrasting markedly with previous incidents attributed to ULFA. Many of the ULFA attacks in the past have been on the order of kidnapping, ambushes of Indian authorities, and the targeting of economic-related facilities, although incidents using IEDs in 2004 and 2007 did take place.

The prospects for Indian authorities are not pleasant. Once delivered and absorbed, the training and technology used in the Assam blasts belongs to the perpetrators. India can expect more of the same in coming days, months, and years unless and until the underlying political situation is resolved.

My wife cut this out of the paper for me and I just knew I had to post it here. This says it all about the life of a deployed milblogger in my opinion.

Last month, the trial of five men charged with plotting to attack the U.S. Army base at Fort Dix, New Jersey began. Mirroring its coverage of the Holy Land Foundation proceedings, the NEFA Foundation is cataloging the numerous exhibits released during the course of the trial, many of which provide key insights into this alleged "homegrown" terrorist cell. The library of exhibits includes transcripts of numerous conversations covertly recorded by an FBI informant, examples of jihadist material found on the suspects’ computers, photos of evidence seized during government searches, and videos of the alleged conspirators firing weapons.

The Fort Dix exhibit library can be found here and provide an interesting look into this important case.