Al-Qaeda merger with Al-Shabaab means more homegrown terrorism
By Lignet
On February 9, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri announced that al-Shabaab was officially joining al-Qaeda. Al-Shabaab was al-Qaeda’s leading terrorist franchise in Africa. Based in Somalia, it has committed numerous terrorist attacks over the past several years and was developing new branches in Kenya.
In an exclusive interview with LIGNET’s London office, al-Shabaab expert Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens explained why the two have joined forces and why it could mean a new wave of terrorist threats in the West.
Al-Shabaab has been fighting the Somali government in an effort to establish an Islamic state, and has been seen as an al-Qaeda affiliate for years.
To see the rest of the story…
http://www.lignet.com/ArticleAnalysis/Terrorism–Al-Qaeda-and-Al-Shabaab-Merger-Could-In
Two Nigerian churches bombed by Muslim operatives
By The Africa Correspondent/Compass Direct
SULEJA, Nigeria, February 21 (CDN) — Suspected Islamic extremists detonated a bomb outside a church building here on Sunday (Feb. 19), two months after Boko Haram Islamists killed 44 Christians and blinded seven in a church bombing in nearby Madalla.
Sunday’s blast in Suleja, in front of Christ Embassy church during their morning worship, injured five people, one seriously, sources said. The bomb, planted in a parked car, was left by suspected members of Boko Haram, which seeks to impose sharia (Islamic law) throughout Nigeria, and authorities arrested some members of the sect the same day.
Triumphant Ministries International Church is also near the site of the explosion. Peter Osema, a search-and-rescue worker with Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency, told Compass that the bomb was likely meant to affect both churches, and indeed Compass learned that at least one of those injured belongs to the Triumph Ministries church.
For the rest of the story…
http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/nigeria/article_1412585.html
Suu Kyi democracy speech halted by government
By Min Lwin/Democratic Voice of Burma
A speech planned by pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi along her campaign trail has been blocked by the Burmese government and forced to move to a less prominent location.
Her speech was meant to be held at the Irrawaddy Division’s Pyarpon town football stadium, but was forced to move to a field nearby after an intervention by the Burmese government’s Sports Minister.
Locals said government workers in the town were told by authorities not to welcome or greet Suu Kyi when she arrived in town. Suu Kyi criticised the government’s intervention as a restriction on her freedom to campaign.
For the rest of the story…
http://www.dvb.no/news/aung-san-suu-kui-campaign-speech-blocked-by-government/20336
Al-Qaeda operates in Afghanistan as the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’
By Bill Roggio/Long War Journal
A Taliban spokesman who identified himself as an “Authorized Correspondent by the Media Committee of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” said that the Taliban will not renounce al Qaeda and that the terror group operates under the command of the “Military Command of the Islamic Emirate.”
The Taliban official, Abdullah al Wazir, made the statement yesterday in response to a posting at Shumukh al Islam, a jihadist Internet forum linked to al Qaeda. Wazir was replying to a question from a forum member who thought “that by agreeing to negotiations with the United States, the Afghan Taliban has taken the ‘first step’ to abandon al Qaeda,” said the SITE Intelligence Group, which translated the statement.
“They [al Qaeda] are among the first groups and banners that pledged allegiance to the Emir of the Believers [Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban], and they operate in Afghanistan under the flag of the Islamic Emirate,” Wazir said.
For the rest of the story…
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/02/al_qaeda_operates_in.php
Obama’s minions arrest pro-life group near White House
By D. A. Tagliare/Godfather Politics
Occupy Washington protesters have been camping on US Park Service property for the past four months. They littered and trashed the park. They urinated and defecated all over it. They even defaced public property and nearby buildings.
But few arrests were ever made.
However, let a group of six religious leaders kneel and pray in front of the White House, only to have Obama’s Gestapo-like US Park Police swoop down like vultures on a fresh kill and carry the men off to jail. From being on their knees in front of the presidential palace, the peaceful protesters were charged with failure to obey a lawful order. After being booked, they each paid a fine of $100 and then were released.
Father Wilde of Priests for Life and Rev Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition organized the prayer meeting in front of the White House to follow up on the lawsuit that Priests for Life filed against the Obama administration to put a stop to the contraceptive mandate.
For the rest of the story…
http://godfatherpolitics.com/3771/obama-gestapo-arrests-group-for-praying-in-front-of-white-house/
Is Obamacare simply Romneycare 2.0?
By Michael Carl/WND
Are Romneycare and Obamacare identical?
A recently published article by former New York Lt. Gov. and Defend Your Healthcare president and founder Dr. Betsy McCaughey says yes.
She says claims that the two plans were alike prompted her to examine them both closely.
“The reason that I went to the Massachusetts Health Care Law of 2006 and investigated it is that I heard the claim made frequently that Romneycare only affected 8 percent of the people in Massachusetts and that it was very unlike the Obama healthcare law,” McCaughey told WND.
“So when I went to read the Massachusetts health care law, especiallyChapter 305, I was stunned to see how similar Romneycare and Obamacare are. They’re virtually identical,” McCaughey said.
For the rest of the story…
http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/is-obamacare-just-romneycare-2-0/
Analyst: Romneycare and Obamacare are identical
By Michael Carl/WND
Analyst and author, former New York Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey tells why Obamacare is simply a hybrid of Romneycare.
Audio Interview One:
Audio Interview Two:
Computer spyware newest ‘weapon’ in Syrian rebellion
By Ben Brumfield/CNN
(CNN) – In Syria’s cyberwar, the regime’s supporters have deployed a new weapon against opposition activists — computer viruses that spy on them, according to an IT specialist from a Syrian opposition group and a former international aid worker whose computer was infected.
A U.S.-based antivirus software maker, which analyzed one of the viruses at CNN’s request, said that it was recently written for a specific cyberespionage campaign and that it passes information it robs from computers to a server at a government-owned telecommunications company in Syria.
Supporters of dictator Bashar al-Assad first steal the identities of opposition activists, then impersonate them in online chats, said software engineer Dlshad Othman. They gain the trust of other users, pass out Trojan horse viruses and encourage people to open them.
For the rest of the story…
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/17/tech/web/computer-virus-syria/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
FBI thwarts attempted capitol suicide bombing
By Wes Bruer/Long War Journal
The FBI has yet again employed a counterterrorism tactic that has proven extremely useful over the past few years in disrupting terror plots aimed at the United States. Amine el Khalifi, an illegal alien of Moroccan decent, was arrested today while wearing a suicide vest which he intended to detonate inside the US Capitol building in Washington DC. The attack would have been devastating were it not for the interception of his plot by undercover FBI agents, who posed as al Qaeda operatives and provided him with a non-functioning explosive vest.
“The complaint filed today alleges that Amine El Khalifi sought to blow himself up in the U.S. Capitol Building,” US Attorney Neil MacBride said in a press release issued Department of Justice. “El Khalifi allegedly believed he was working with al Qaeda and devised the plot, the targets, and the methods on his own.”
El Khalifi “became known to the JTTF [Joint Terrorism Task Force] because of his stated desire to carry out attacks in the US, specifically, the US Capitol building,” James McJunkin, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office said. “This arrest is the result of dedicated special agents, task force officers and intelligence analysts from the FBI and our partner law enforcement agencies that make up the JTTF.”
For the rest of the story…
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/02/attempted_suicide_at.php
Mexico’s PRI looks to recapture presidency
By LIGNET
Mexico is facing a close presidential race this spring, with drug violence taking center stage and PAN, the party that ended the 70-year rule of the PRI in 2000, at risk of losing the presidency. The security situation in Mexico has never been worse, with drug-related killings up from 2,119 in 2006, when President Felipe Calderon was elected, to 47,000 last year.
The female candidate chosen by the National Action Party (PAN) to succeed Calderon, Josefina Vazquez Mota, will have a difficult time making the case for PAN’s continued rule.
But the People’s Revolutionary Party (PRI) is not necessarily a strong bet to retake the presidency this year. The party’s candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto, continues to lead in the polls, but his recent missteps and the popularity of PAN candidate Vazquez Mota will likely make for a close race.
For the rest of the story…
http://www.lignet.com/ArticleAnalysis/PRI-Looks-to-Retake-Presidency-in-2012
