StormWarning’s Counterterrorism

Perhaps unnoticed is that yesterday a capsule carrying China’s taikonauts (astronauts) returned from their historic space ride and space walk, becoming the third country to accomplish this feat.

First to emerge from the toppled capsule, Zhia Zhigang commented that he was “proud of his motherland” as he was helped to a folding chair. Clearly exhausted after a taxing mission, a bumpy re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere, and the rigours of gravitational adjustment, the crew were then set upon by doctors eager to check their conditions.

In addressing his watching nation, Premier Wen Jiabao heartily congratulated the triumphant mission crew and said that: “The complete success of the manned Shenzhou VII is a great stride forward for China’s space technology.”

Anyone want to doubt the significance of the emerged China accomplishing a spacewalk?

Think again.

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I admit it. I’m a “homer.” Not like Homer Simpson, but as in a nearly blind allegiance to the home team, the NY Giants the Champions of Super Bowl XLII. Try doing that in the open in Dallas Cowboy country! One of our greats, Michael Strahan retired today. Both plus and minus, he was not Lawrence Taylor.

Michael Strahan was great. His wild abandon as he rushed the opposing quarterback; his pursuit in chasing down a running back trying to turn the corner. And what most fans would never see, his leadership in the locker room. We may never know how Strahan helped to stabilize the team and give the young Eli Manning a foundation of strength. Michael Strahan was a true leader and a quiet man. While Lawrence Taylor may have been a better and stronger all-around player, Strahan never diminished the stature of the NY Giants like Lawrence Taylor did with his off (and on) the field drug use.

Michael Strahan, big number 92…the man with the gap toothed smile and the soft spoken voice. Yes, Michael Strahan will be a sorely missed, hard to replace Hall of Fame inductee in 2013 when he become eligible.

Lawrence Taylor, Michael Strahan, NY Giants

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READERS PLEASE NOTE

Due to 2nd thinking on the title of the Hussein post, the original HTML link, http://stormwarning.moonagewebdream.com/index.php/2008/05/06/husseins-fear-of-stds/ is now correctly shown as http://stormwarning.moonagewebdream.com/index.php/2008/05/06/fears-of-a-madman/

Sorry for any inconvenience.

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Simple situational question. Is Somalia sliding down that slippery slope? Fighting has renewed in Mogadishu. Aid groups are being targeted by fighting, foreign reporters and volunteers are being captured and held for ransom, and Islamists are executing their captives.

While it could be argued that this is simply more of the same violence and disruption to civil society that has ripped through Somalia for nearly two decades, the fear is that the worst days are still ahead.

Recent months have seen a comeback by the radical Islamic groups that had asserted control over parts of the shattered country. Reports from the region suggest that the fundamentalist fighters will capture a town in a lightning raid and then retreat, more to show off their muscle than anything else. According to witnesses, the fighters behind these raids belong to the al-Shabab, a band of mostly young men who adhere to Taliban-style Islamic codes.

Thus, the security situation is deteriorating and the combination of the Transitional government and Ethiopian troops have not been able to stabilize the situation. It is very possible that the mere presence of the Ethiopians in Somalia is creating the situation in which the violence is increasing. Meet Africa, the next front in the GWOT.

Islamists, Mogadishu, Somalia

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Has al Qaeda been “lured” back into Baghdad because of the recent bombings in Sunni areas? With the attention drawn to al Sadr’s Mahdi Army, it appears possible that AQI has returned. This happens as the Iraqi forces remain focused on the Mahdi.

Pointing to the bombings last weekend, the fear is that AQI has returned.

Now, some observers fear Sunni insurgents allied with al-Qaeda may seek to capitalize on the situation by wreaking havoc in other neighborhoods where U.S. and Iraqi forces are paying less attention. Last month, American troops found a letter in a farmhouse northwest of Baghdad, purportedly signed by an al-Qaeda operative, which called on insurgents to sow disunity among the nation’s Sunni fighters who have begun working with the Americans.

Apparently using a new tactic of tandem events, if this is AQI, they are drawing crowds of people to the first incident, like the recent assassination style killing of a shopkeeper and his son, and then exploding the bomb.

“These attacks are evidence that al-Qaeda is still a very large threat,” Rear Admiral Patrick Driscoll, a spokesman for the multi-national forces in Iraq, said Sunday, “We are continuously very closely focused on al-Qaeda.”

I may well be swimming against the stream of the happy talk right on this one. The question could well be whether AQI ever really left. The question may still remain if even American presence in Baghdad and the region, whether the Sunni/Shi’a conflict will be quelled, or if it remains the festering boil that it has always been.

al Qaeda in Iraq, AQI

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While there are other posts, Steve Emerson says it well enough. I simply hate being wrong, and I have an issue with unattributed “scoops.” Anyway, I’ve got a huge workload and Mrs. SW and I are in the process of getting our house ready to sell. I really hate being wrong.

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My counterterrorism talisman (Beware Jihadists!…bouncing boobs below)

I continue to maintain that a nuclear device does not now exist on US soil in the hands of terrorists. We’ve seen the mass destruction of Washington DC in movies like Independence Day. Think of the strict Constitutionalists who would like to start all over again, and “do it the way they oughta.” But while they are Americans all (and patriots at that), undoubtably there are some conservative “thinkers” and small governmentists who might actually want to see this happen. A University of Georgia model shows that a 10 kT bomb exploding near the White House (like the one that hit Hiroshima) would likely kill 100,000 people, throw shards of glass the length of the Mall, and contaminate 1000’s more with radioactive residue.

As for my belief that no terrorist nuke currently exists (a position not shared by at least one “self-proclaimed counterterrorism expert”), there are at least two camps of thought:

“It’s inevitable,” said Cham E. Dallas, director of the Institute for Health Management and Mass Destruction Defense at the University of Georgia, who has charted the potential explosion’s effect in the District and testified before a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. “I think it’s wistful to think that it won’t happen by 20 years.”

- Versus/compared to -

“The scenarios we discuss today are very hard for us to contemplate, and so emotionally traumatic and unsettling that it is tempting to push them aside,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent and committee chairman. “However, now is the time to have this difficult conversation, to ask the tough questions, and then to get answers as best we can and take preparatory and preventive action.”

- And buffered by -

Ashton B. Carter, co-director of the Preventive Defense Project at Harvard University, said the likelihood of a nuclear attack on U.S. soil is undetermined, but it has increased with the proliferation of weapons by Iran and North Korea and the failure to secure Russia’s nuclear arsenal following the Cold War.

“For while the probability of a nuclear weapon one day going off in a U.S. city cannot be calculated, it is almost surely larger than it was five years ago,” Mr. Carter said.

jihadist boobs, nuclear attack, Washington DC

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Its really very simple, today is “just another day.” In the spirit of humor and good sense, I give you something that Mrs. Storm permitted me to have. Its probably not new (I haven’t seen it before), but I expect that its been circulated about the Internet before.

WINTER CLASSES FOR MEN

AT THE
ADULT LEARNING CENTER

REGISTRATION MUST BE COMPLETED
by Friday, March 28, 2008

NOTE: DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL
OF THEIR CONTENTS, CLASS SIZES WILL BE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS MAXIMUM

Class 1
How To Fill Up The Ice Cube Trays–Step by Step, with Slide Presentation.
Meets 4 weeks, Monday and Wednesday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.

Class 2
The Toilet Paper Roll–Does It Change Itself?
Round Table Discussion.
Meets 2 weeks, Saturday 12:00 for 2 hours.

Class 3
Is It Possible To Urinate Using The Technique Of Lifting The Seat and Avoiding The Floor, Walls and Nearby Bathtub?–Group Practice.
Meets 4 weeks, Saturday 10:00 PM for 2 hours.

Class 4
Fundamental Differences Between The Laundry Hamper and The Floor–Pictures and Explanatory Graphics.
Meets Saturdays at 2:00 PM for 3 weeks.

Class 5
Dinner Dishes–Can They Levitate and Fly Into The Kitchen Sink?
Examples on Video.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning
at 7:00 PM

Class 6
Loss Of Identity–Losing The Remote To Your Significant Other.
Help Line Support and Support Groups.
Meets 4 Weeks, Friday and Sunday 7:00 PM

Class 7
Learning How To Find Things–Starting With Looking In The Right Places And Not Turning The House Upside Down While Screaming.
Open Forum
Monday at 8:00 PM, 2 hours.

Class 8
Health Watch–Bringing Her Flowers Is Not Harmful To Your Health.
Graphics and Audio Tapes.
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours

Class 9
Real Men Ask For Directions When Lost–Real Life Testimonials.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Location to be determined

Class 10
Is It Genetically Impossible To Sit Quietly While She Parallel Parks?
Driving Simulations.
4 weeks, Saturday’s noon, 2 hours.

Class 11
Learning to Live–Basic Differences Between Mother and Wife.
Online Classes and role-playing
Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, location to be determined

Class 12
How to be the Ideal Shopping Companion
Relaxation Exercises, Meditation and Breathing Techniques.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.

Class 13
How to Fight Cerebral Atrophy–Remembering Anniversaries and Other Important Dates and Calling When You’re Going To Be Late.
Cerebral Shock Therapy Sessions and Full Lobotomies Offered.
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.

Class 14
The Stove/Oven–What It Is and How It Is Used.
Live Demonstration.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM, location to be determined.

Upon completion of any of the above courses, diplomas will be issued to the survivors.

Send this to all the guys that you think can stand the heat, and to all the ladies for the best chuckle of their lives.

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On this day, every one is full of the Blarney.

That includes me. 

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Regrettably, during a blog malfunction, this post, one that alot of people came looking for, was accidently deleted.  Apologies for any inconvenience.

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This long drawn out political campaign isn’t even at the mid-point, and I am so disinterested. Between the posturing and the name calling and the unimportant issues made important (often because blogerz make them so), it is time to reflect. So, I give you something of an insight into what political advertising is…

All you need to do is click on this YouTube video clip.

Many thanks to Your Daily Nietzsche for the link, although I first saw this clip tonight on MSNBC (shudder the thought!).

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A company called  Lee Technologies Inc. was awarded a contract for maintenance of the “generator and uninterrupted power supply systems” at the VP Cheney’s official residence at the Naval Observatory on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, DC.

Is that for his electronic pacemaker/defibrillator or to keep the command center operating at the Vice President’s residence, the Naval Observatory?

Just asking :)  According to Government Security News, Secret Service isn’t talking apparently.

continuous power supply, DIck Cheney, Lee Technologies, Naval Observatory

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Following September 11th, the number of foreign students coming to study in the U.S. steadily declined.  But this trend reversed in 2007 with the Dept. of State granting 651,000 student and exchange visitor visas…an increase of 10% vs 2006 and 90,000 more than 2001.

The number foreign students in the United States declined following Sept. 11th mostly due to tougher security standards by U.S. consulates, tighter reporting requirements for foreign students while in the United States, and concern of foreign students, especially Muslims, about how they would be treated.

The number of foreign students attending American institutions of higher learning continues to grow and the Department of State says that in partnership with the Institute of International Education, academic institutions, and American colleges and universities, it continues to spread the word to international students that the United States welcomes them. Embassy and consular officials meet with prospective foreign students to explain the student visa application requirements and process and they participate in overseas college fairs providing information about education opportunities available in the United States. All U.S. consulates now offer special appointments in an effort to ensure that foreign students do not miss their classes in the United States while waiting for a visa interview. “International students have heard us and are choosing the United States as a premier destination for higher education,” the department said.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Maura Harty talked about the “regrettable perception” that the events of September 11, 2001, made the U.S. visa process more cumbersome was correct in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. But she said the “horror stories” of endless waits for name checks are a matter of the past. About 97 percent of people who are told their applications have been approved get their visas within two or three days, she said.

Since September 11, 2001, the United States had to put in place more stringent security measures. “At the same time, we’ve worked hard over the past years to streamline procedures and make the visa application process easier and more efficient,” Harty said.

“I regret that some people are hearing the old stories and applying them to the current situations,” she said.

The State Department also has made an effort to “demystify” the visa process…

There is more to this issue. But what I really wonder how some of the more radically anti-American opinionators really feel about this.  [Did he just write, anti-American?]

Department of State, Student visas

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The spread of Islamic terrorism continues unrelented, now involving the previously peaceful group of atolls, the Maldives, with funds from Islamist organizations based in Pakistan and the United Kingdom helping to finance the September 29 terror bombing there.  It remains important to remember, “nizam, la tanzim,” or ‘System, not organisation’ as preached in the tenets of the treatise written by Spanish-Syrian strategist Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, Da’wat al-muqawamah al-islamiyyah al-’alamiyyah (”The Call for a Global Islamic Resistance”).  Key is that the document espouses the concept of  Jihadist groups should develop a template that allows them to create structures wherever they are, and carry out recruitment, fund-raising and attacks. What this means is that no single terrorist is now essential to the jihad…its the system, not the organization.

Maldives residents say the influence of Islamists has become increasingly visible in what used to be an almost ostentatiously westernised society. There are more women wearing headscarves than short skirts or jeans now, while a growing number of men can be seen sporting full-length beards. On some islands, women have defied laws that prohibit the all-enveloping buruga, known in India as burkha. Underpinning this shift is a deep cultural dislocation.

Funds from Islamist organizations based in Pakistan and the United Kingdom, helped finance the September 29 terror bombing in Male, police sources say. Maldives, rock singer Ali Rameez and his associate, Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed are now being now being investigated for connection to the 1st ever terror attack in the MALE on Sept. 29th. The real significance of Mr. Rameez’s story lies not in his possible links with terrorism, but in the continuing conflict between religious neo-conservatism and liberalism: a battle Islamists seem to be winning. 

● welter of street gangs, engaging in violent crime and competing to sell drugs.
● Narcotics use has also grown to disturbing levels.
● Islamist groups have been quick to cash in on the discontent, offering the rigours of religious practice as a cure for the strains of cultural and economic change.
● more important than ideology, Islamist groups are able to provide new recruits tangible material inducements 

Its all well and good for some people to outright ignore the contribution of social and cultural dislocation and youthful disenchantment to the spread of the Islamic fundamentalist jihad.  Over at Orthos’ Baudrillard’s Bastard I commented, “Long before September 11, I was “involved” in the technology tools of the “community” and afterward, became more involved with studying from the real world perspective the strategies of the future. Because, as you wrote, we face a multi-generational, multi-front war during which past thinking and strategies are less likely to work, I learn in real time adaptations that emerge from what occurs. I believe that there is no book to read or follow to “know” how to deal with this Global War on Terror. All too many still try to deal with today as though it was yesterday.“  Read around and determine the fundamental basis of thinking.

“nizam, ‘System, Islamic terrorism, la tanzim”, Maldives, MALE, Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, not organisation’

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Ever wonder why dogs bite people?  Actually I never did.  I usually figured that most dogs bite people because the people invade their space.  But along with another post-Halloween commentary/observation, you will see good reasons what dogs bite people.

Now does anyone have any idea why some dogs will bite some people?

Post-Halloween rant: For the last few days, and especially the night before, local television newscasters have been warning that children should never enter a house…of course fearing that the kid might have gone to the neighbor sexual deviant and registered sex offender. If that’s the case, why the hell were little kids walking into my house last night…one walked right past my wife…as they were being given their treats? I suspect that alot of parents are idiots these days…they stood there watching as their little tykes just walked past my wife into the house!

And now, I’m going to get back to my work, and maybe leave you a real post sometime later today when I get out from underneath this pile.

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