Anti-Terror raid all over Europe.
The RT coverage seems to toe the general line - with sympathetic stories of (presumably) Jews travelling to the occupied territories for training in how to use a gun and threats against "Je suis Charlie" businesses.
Still, people like Peter Lavelle remain on track.
The RT coverage seems to toe the general line - with sympathetic stories of (presumably) Jews travelling to the occupied territories for training in how to use a gun and threats against "Je suis Charlie" businesses.
Still, people like Peter Lavelle remain on track.
US
and UK in joint anti-terror move
Radio NZ,
17 January, 2015
Britain and the US are to share expertise on preventing radicalism and tackling domestic "violent extremism".
17 January, 2015
Britain and the US are to share expertise on preventing radicalism and tackling domestic "violent extremism".
Prime
Minister David Cameron announced the move following talks with
President Barack Obama at the White House, warning that they both
faced a "poisonous and fanatical ideology".
US
President Barack Obama and Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron.
Photo: AFP
The
taskforce will report back to the two leaders within six months, the
BBC reported.
Mr
Cameron also said Britain would deploy more unarmed drones to help
ground forces tackle Islamic State.
Mr
Cameron is on a two-day visit to Washington for talks with President
Obama, likely to be his final Washington visit before the UK general
election in May.
At
a press conference in the White House, Mr Obama hailed Mr Cameron as
a "great friend" while the British prime minister said the
US was a "kindred spirit".
The
talks between the two leaders came a week after the deadly terrorist
attacks in Paris which killed 17 people.
Concerns
over additional attacks by Islamic extremists intensified on
Thursday, after two people were killed during a targeted anti-terror
raid by police in Belgium, to pre-empt what officials there called a
major impending attack.
UK
police have said there is "heightened concern" about the
risk to the UK's Jewish communities in the wake of last week's
attacks and are considering stepping up patrols in certain areas.
At
a press conference in the White House, Mr Cameron said it was a
"sensible, precautionary" measure to take to "reassure
those communities".
Mr
Cameron said: "We face a poisonous and fanatical ideology that
wants to pervert one of the world's major religions, Islam, and
create conflict, terror and death.
"With
our allies we will confront it wherever it appears."
President
Obama said the US, UK and its allies were "working seamlessly to
prevent attacks and defeat these terrorist networks".
Asked
whether an attack was "imminent" in Britain, Mr Cameron
said the terror threat level, set independently by the Joint
Terrorism Assessment Centre, was currently at "severe" -
meaning an attack is "highly likely".
He
warned that the fight against terrorism "is going to be a long,
patient and hard struggle" but added that he was "quite
convinced we will overcome it" due to the strength of the West's
values.
However,
he stressed that "everyone" had a role to play in keeping
communities safe, warning: "You cannot simply rely on policing
and security."
As
the press conference took place, it emerged that counter-terrorism
officers have arrested an 18-year-old woman at Stansted Airport on
suspicion of terrorism offences.
The
prime minister also announced that the UK would send an additional
1,000 troops to take part in NATO military exercises in the Baltic
states and eastern Europe amid heightened tensions in the region
following Russia's conflict with Ukraine.
Commenting
on the announcement, UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the
extra troops would provide "additional reassurance" and
underlined the UK's commitment to its allies.
Before
the talks at the White House, which lasted just over an hour, it was
announced that the UK and US are to carry out "war game"
cyber attacks on each other as part of a new joint defence against
online criminals.
Belgian terror cell planned to kill police
Radio NZ,
17 January, 2015
In Belgium, a suspected jihadist group targeted in a major anti-terror raid on Thursday had been planning to kill policemen in the street and at police stations, Belgian prosecutors say.
17 January, 2015
In Belgium, a suspected jihadist group targeted in a major anti-terror raid on Thursday had been planning to kill policemen in the street and at police stations, Belgian prosecutors say.
The
planned attacks were imminent, they said, adding that two suspects
shot dead in Verviers during the raids were still being identified.
Thirteen
suspects have been arrested, while two more were arrested in France.
Belgium's
government has announced tough new measures to tackle terrorism.
Belgian
police patrol the Jewish quarter in Antwerp. Photo: AFP
Police
in France meanwhile have arrested a dozen people suspected of helping
the Islamist militant gunmen responsible for last week's killings in
Paris amid a series of anti-terror raids across Europe.
An
official says the arrests in the region south of Paris were in
connection with suspected "logistical support" for the shooting.
Seventeen
victims and the three attackers died in three days of violence that
began with an attack on the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie
Hebdo.
The
American secretary of state, John Kerry, is in Paris and is due to
have talks with President Francois Hollande today.
Europe on alert
Hundreds
of German police meanwhile raided alleged Islamist sites in Berlin,
arresting two men suspected of being part of a group planning to
carry out an attack in Syria.
The
raids fuelled fears about the thousands of young Europeans thought to
have gone to fight with the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda-linked groups
in the Middle East before coming home to launch attacks.
The
group in Blegium was on the verge of carrying out terrorist attacks
to kill police officers on public roads and in police stations,"
Belgian federal prosecutors' spokesman Eric Van der Sijpt told a news
conference about the raids overnight.
The
group, recently returned from Syria, had Kalashnikov assault rifles,
explosives, ammunition and communications equipment, along with police uniforms, he said.
explosives, ammunition and communications equipment, along with police uniforms, he said.
Prime
Minister Charles Michel said he was ready to call up the army to
ensure security and raised Belgium's terror alert to three on a scale
of our.
The
European Commission stepped up security at its headquarters in
Brussels as a "precaution", a spokeswoman said.
Jewish
schools in Brussels and the port city of Antwerp closed Friday. The
raid comes less than a year after four people were shot dead in an
attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels. A Frenchman who fought in
Syria has been charged with the murders.
Verviers's
Mayor Marc Elsen gives a press conference at the city's town hall. Photo: AFP
The unrest across Europe has fuelled fears of tensions between communities, but in Verviers, a faded industrial town near the German border, residents said they would stay united.
Belgium
has one of the largest number of extremists who have returned from
Syria relative to its population, with a large Muslim community that
suffers from high unemployment and disenfranchisement.
With
France still reeling from the attacks which targeted its cherished
traditions of free speech, US Secretary of State John Kerry laid
wreaths on Friday at both Charlie Hebdo offices and the Jewish
supermarket during a visit to Paris.
The
magazine inflamed Muslims in many countries by printing cartoons of
the Prophet Mohammed.
French
President Francois Hollande meanwhile urged the international
community to offer a "firm" and "collective"
response to the attacks, which drew 1.5 million people into the
streets in Paris in their wake along with dozens of world leaders,
although the US was not among them.
International
anger over Charlie Hebdo's printing of a new image of Mohammed in its
sold-out comeback issue this week continued to rage, with protesters
clashing with police outside the French consulate in the Pakistani
port city of Karachi. AFP/BBC
Italy,
US 'Aggressively Monitored' Muslims According to WikiLeaks Cables
16
January, 2015
The
entire Muslim population of Italy has been "closely monitored"
while some 2,000 Muslims have been "aggressively monitored",
according to WikiLeaks cables dated from 2005 and classified by the
then-US Ambassador to Italy Ronald Spogli.
MOSCOW,
January 16 (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — The documents came to
Sputnik news agency's attention in the wake of the spike in
Islamophobia across Europe following last week's terrorist attack in
Paris.
"Muslims
comprise approximately two percent of the [Italian] population. The
majority are moderates; only five percent of Muslims in Italy attend
mosque; and many are itinerant workers… The Italian Government
closely monitors this community and expels those who preach
violence," the cable dated September 26, 2005 says.
Another
document from December 7, 2005, also classified by Ronald Spogli,
quotes the then-Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu as saying
that the Muslim community in Italy is different from those in France
and other European countries, much smaller and more diffuse, with
most being economic migrants.
"Still,
there will always be some prone to extremism, but the minister
estimated these counted for no more than three percent of the
community in Italy. The [Muslim] advisory council was designed to
reach out to the other 97 percent. The three percent were
aggressively monitored — mosques, schools, bakeries, butcher shops,
meeting places," the document sates. "This meant that
perhaps 2,000 had been identified and put under watch."
The
document based on a private informal lunch at the US Ambassador's
residence and involving Spogli, Pisanu and Italy's Chief of Police
Giovanni De Gennaro, also outlines that some 200 Muslims were
expelled from Italy on suspicion of extremism in the years preceding
2005.
The
lunch discussions, all in Italian, focused on security issues
relating to the 2006 Turin Olympics, Muslim outreach, terrorist
financing and data-sharing efforts.
According
to the WikiLeaks cables, Giuseppe Pisanu "takes obvious pride in
his initiative for outreach to the Muslim community in Italy."
"At
the same time, he [Pisanu] and the police chief were unambiguously
firm in their ongoing efforts to monitor, and if need be, expel any
individuals in the community advocating violence or extremism,"
the classified document states.
An
official representative of WikiLeaks has confirmed that the documents
are authentic.
Until
a decade ago, Italy had been primarily a country of emigrants, but
its immigrant population has been on the rise and in 2012 migrants
represented 7.4 percent of the Italian population, according to the
Italian National Office Against Racial Discrimination (UNAR).
Italy's
Muslim Advisory Council was set up "to tackle [the] practical
problems of integration," by addressing practical and social
issues, including the issuance of work permits and religious
education in schools.
The
United States has been conducting a so-called Muslim Outreach program
in Italy, led by Milan's Consulate General. The mission "is
utilizing a combination of our U.S. Speakers and Exchange programs
together with Embassy resources to promote our agenda,"
according to a 2007 cable "Muslim Outreach Strategy — The Next
Level."
According
to a Pew Research survey conducted last spring, Italians are more
critical toward Muslims compared to other European nations – 63
percent of the population holds unfavorable views of the Muslim
population. While in France and Germany, which host Europe's largest
Muslim communities, the tendency is different, with 72 and 78 percent
of the population respectively holding favorable views of the Muslim
community.
The
United States has been conducting so-called Muslim Outreach programs
across Europe, including in Spain, the Czech Republic, the
Netherlands, with the goal of countering the belief that Washington
is at war with Islam, according to cables released by WikiLeaks.
"…
the two overarching goals of U.S. engagement with Europe's Muslims:
countering the widespread conviction that the U.S. is somehow "at
war" with Islam, and initiating a constructive dialogue about
Muslim integration in European societies aimed at sharing America's
best practices with regard to providing equal opportunity to
disadvantaged, racially distinct minorities," the sensitive
document from 2007 quotes US senior advisor to the assistant
secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs Farah Pandith as
saying.
Catherine
Burn, Deputy Commissioner of the Specialist Operations speaks to the
media
This
document follows Farah Pandith's July 25-26, 2007 meetings with
officials from the French prime minister's office, the foreign
ministry, the interior ministry, politicians, religious leaders,
academics, businessmen and community activists.
Another
2007 document, entitled "Muslim Outreach Strategy – The Next
Level" states that "Italy represents an opportunity for
U.S. interests in promoting the integration of moderate Muslims in a
Western European democracy."
In
August 2005, the United States established an Integration Issues
Working Group (IIWG) "to coordinate outreach and reporting
activities related to the Dutch Muslim community." The 2006
cable further notes, that in accordance with Washington's guidance,
the mission "made engaging with the Dutch Muslim community a top
priority." While the primary goal was stated as "improving
the image of the United States and U.S. policies among the
increasingly influential — and largely anti-American — Dutch
Muslim community."
At
the same time, the cables highlight that the US-led Muslim Outreach
programs target both legal and illegal citizens.
"We
are building our information base about Italy's diverse Muslim
community to determine the best ways of stimulating a dialogue with
them," the 2005 cable classified by the-then US Ambassador to
Italy Ronald Spogli says. "We do not believe that political or
public diplomacy outreach programs are an effective means to reach
Muslim extremists themselves; this task is best left to other
agencies with other tools."
German
Muslims Not Considered Properly German: Study
An
official representative of WikiLeaks has confirmed that the documents
are authentic.
Currently,
Europe is going through a spike in Islamophobia as a reaction to the
killing of 17 people in last week's attacks in Paris, targeting the
Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher supermarket.
Germany's
Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (Pegida)
movement has gained momentum following the attacks and gathered
thousands of people at anti-Islamization rallies across Europe. The
movement now has branches in several European countries, including
Spain, Switzerland, France and the United Kingdom.
Those
who oppose Pegida and accuse it of right-wing extremism have
conducted counter-marches, attracting tens of thousands of people.
Diffused
nature of terror cells makes attack prevention 'extremely' hard –
Europol
16
January, 2015
The
head of EU police agency Europol, Rob Wainwright, says it is becoming
extremely difficult to foil terror attacks due to the large number of
radicalized Muslim extremists in Europe, their lack of command
structure, and their growing sophistication.
"The
scale of the problem, the diffuse nature of the network, the scale of
the people involved make this extremely difficult for even very
well-functioning counterterrorist agencies such as we have in France
to stop every attack," Wainwright
said in an interview to AP.
"Official" terror
groups headed by a leader are often replaced by numerous independent
or semi-independent terrorists who act on their own. It is very
difficult to track them, he explained, adding that at least 2,500 and
perhaps up to 5,000 Europeans are suspected to have joined militants
in Syria and Iraq.
"The
sheer numbers of people involved, the way in which they've been
radicalized on the Internet, radicalized by their engagement in the
conflict in Syria and Iraq, makes this extremely difficult for the
police to contain it in a complete way," he
said. "That's
the real problem I think that the intelligence community faces right
now."
Policemen and forensic police work
under the rain in a marked out perimeter in Colline street in
Verviers, eastern Belgium, on January 15, 2015, after two men were
reportedly killed during an anti-terrorist operation. (AFP Photo /
John Thys)
Thirteen people were arrested in the country; five of them were charged with “participating in the activities of a terrorist group” on Friday.
"We
have to make sure therefore that we can work together in a better way
across Europe," he
said.
The
series of terror acts in Europe started on January 7, after the
deadly assault on the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris. EU
counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove has warned there is
a risk of new attacks in Europe. Europol said the most likely targets
are Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK.
Europol,
based in The Hague, Netherlands, is the European Union's law
enforcement agency with a staff of 800 people. Its main goal is
to “help
achieve a safer Europe for the benefit of all EU citizens,”according
to its webpage.
The
agency has no executive powers, but works to improve the
effectiveness and cooperation between the competent authorities of
the member states by means of sharing intelligence in order to
prevent and combat serious international organized crime. Europol
supports European national agencies with information exchange,
intelligence analysis, expertise, and training.
CrossTalk: Turing Right
In the wake of the tragedy in Paris, what are the prospects for Europe’s right-wing populist political parties? There can be no doubt the issues of immigration and policies dealing with terrorism will remain high on the agenda. But what if the entire pan-European project is a failure?
CrossTalking
with Stephen Haseler, John Laughland and John Weeks
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.