Tag Archives: Counterterror

Why is Kazakhstan Joining the Abraham Accords? And What About Azerbaijan, India, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, Armenia, Europe, and the West?

As noted on Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, here, Kazakhstan joining the Abraham Accords is partly symbolic. Kazakhstan recognized Israel and has maintained diplomatic ties with it since gaining independence from Russia and the Soviet Union in 1991. But this begs the question

Why did the Muslim majority nation recognize and seek ties with Israel in 1991?

Look at the map. Kazakhstan is south of Russia, west of China, and while separated by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, north of Iran and Afghanistan.

Ah-ha. But by this logic a rational person would expect Azerbaijan, India, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan to have ties with Israel. And they do.

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Financial Cryptography: over 30K EU identity stolen per year

Financial Cryptography reports that

A classified Dutch government report has revealed that criminals stole 341,956 passports, identity cards, visa stickers and drivers’ licences from European government facilities since 2000.

Financial Cryptography,  citing 341,956 blank EU travel documents in criminal hands on  NRC Handelsblad (in English).

In other words, not only government intelligence services have access to false identity documents. See our earlier coverage of this issue: Hamas claims Israel assassinated commander in Dubai – Wikinews, the free news source




Obama and The People Fight Terrorism

President Barack Obama

In response to the Christmas Day attempted terror attack, President Obama’s actions and former Vice President Cheney’s comments highlight the differences between the two administrations: The Bush Administration was famous for not being “Reality Based” (NY Times). The Obama Administration investigates first, thinks, and ACTS(Reuters), while accepting responsibility for any failures.  “Ultimately, the buck stops with me,” Obama said. “As president, I have a solemn responsibility to protect our nation and our people.” (CS Monitor)

On 12/29/9, President Obama said it was a systemic failure (Christian Science Monitor). On 1/3/10, he said the attack was planned in Yemen (NY Times). We also know he approved US counter-terror strikes in Yemen, which occurred on 12/24/09 (NPR /  NYTimes) and which killed Al Queda Terrorists. Continue reading →