It's a Terrifying World

We've been keeping such a close eye on Israel and Gaza, other hot spots around the world have dropped from the news.  Reading Laer's great site, I realized that many of us had put India and Pakistan on the back burner even after the atrocities committed in Mumbai by Muslim terrorists.  Today India handed over to Pakistan a dossier on its probe into the Mumbai terror attacks.    From the Daily Times:

 ...  an Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman said that the material handed over to the Pakistani high commissioner included interrogation reports of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone gunman arrested after the attacks; details of the attackers’ communication links with ‘elements in Pakistan’ and data retrieved from GPS and satellite phones.  [snip]

Pakistan has decided to form a joint investigation team of its intelligence agencies – including the FBI and IB – to examine the ‘evidence’ handed over by India, a private TV channel reported.

It would be great if these two countries could work together on this and perhaps arrest the people behind the scene who are also responsible for the brutal attacks, mutilation, terror and ultimate deaths of so many innocent people.  From AFP:

New Delhi has blamed the attacks -- which left 172 people dead including nine of the gunmen -- on the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which is fighting Indian rule in divided Kashmir.

Boucher refused to reveal any details of the evidence he had seen, but said it was "clear that the attackers had links that lead to Pakistani soil."

He however said Pakistan's crackdown on Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an Islamic charity with links to LeT, showed the country's "commitment to eliminate sources of terrorism on Pakistani soil".

Barack Obama will have his plate full when he takes office.  Whether the Israel - Gaza fighting is over by that time really does not matter.  The Arab-Muslim hatred for Israel never cools and will constantly be a problem around the world.  Iran, who wants Israel gone as most Muslims do, is still working on their nuclear program, still arming Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as entering Iraq to cause whatever troubles they can there.  

It has been interesting to watch how the Arab world has responded to the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.  Talk about family bickering, oh my.  Egypt may turn out to be the black sheep of the Arab - Muslim family.

Iran criticizes Arabs over Gaza Crisis
Iran’s president told the Arab League, it must act quickly to end Israeli attacks on Gaza adding that setting up a committee or making speeches was not enough. But Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not suggest specific action by Arab states, some of which non-Arab Iran has criticised for not doing enough to protect Palestinians after more than 380 deaths.

Iran’s Support of Hamas Unnerves Egypt
The Israeli attack on Gaza has shown a new face of Iran in the Gulf region that is unnerving many Arab states. Traditionally Iran has supported oppressed Shiite minorities in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and Lebanon, not only to empower them but also as a way to spread its creed of political Islam.

Neighbors / The Muslim Brotherhood - Iran's brothers -in-arms?
In recent weeks, Egypt and Iran have waged a tough media and diplomatic campaign against the backdrop of Iran's support for Hamas and Iran's intention, according to Egypt, to expand its sphere of influence in the Middle East. At the end of last week, for example, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, accused Egypt of not doing enough to protect Palestinians in Gaza.

Hizbullah Secretary-General Nasrallah Urges Egyptian Officers to Rebel Against Their Regime's Policies, Calls For Demonstrations in Arab and Muslim World to Pressure Governments
On December 28, 2008, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, launched an unprecedented attack on the Arab regimes, particularly that of Egypt, accusing them of collaborating with Israel. Speaking on Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV, Nasrallah called for demonstrations to be held throughout the Arab world to pressure the Arab regimes to halt the Israeli offensive, and to compel Egypt to open the Rafah crossing.

Egyptians blame Hamas, yet are angry at Cairo as well
A sustained Israeli ground operation in Gaza would sharply increase public pressure on President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to do more to help the Palestinians of Gaza, despite widespread feelings here that the radical group Hamas provoked the current crisis.

Renowned Arab Thinker Lafif Lakhdar: Hamas Is Bringing Disaster upon the Palestinians
On October 17, 2008, liberal Arab thinker Lafif Lakhdar posted an article on the reformist e-journal www.elaph.com, in which he characterized Hamas as another link in the chain of Palestinian rejectionism, i.e., in their tendency to refuse all suggestions of compromise. This tendency, he said, is rooted in religious extremism and brings disaster upon the Palestinians. Lakhdar called on the Palestinians to take stock of their situation and start making realistic decisions based on pragmatic political considerations.

I think it's important to look at some connections and complications Obama may run into.  Hillary Clinton will be the new Secretary of State and her husband's connections are interesting.  Iran is just one example, but I'm sure many more will surface.

Clinton's Iranian Connection
The New York-based Alavi Foundation, which supports Iranian causes, contributed between $25,000 and $50,000 to the William J. Clinton Foundation. This can be best described as the ultimate chutzpah, for on the very same day, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York indicted the president of the Alavi Foundation, Farshid Jahedi, "on a charge of obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying documents required to be produced under a grand jury subpoena concerning the Alavi Foundation's relationship with Bank Melli Iran and the ownership of a Manhattan office building."

Sanctions are the only solution the United Nations seems to have, yet we know they do not work.  One recent example:

Sanctions don't stop Hewlett-Packard from selling in Iran
Behind an unmarked door on a crowded side street in Tehran, a stack of Hewlett-Packard printers rises to the ceiling. A fleet of motorbikes swarms outside as deliverymen wait to take printers to buyers across the sprawling capital. HP printers have become a top seller here, despite a comprehensive embargo that prohibits the company from sending its products to Iran.

Last but not least we have this surprise:

Iranian newspaper reportedly closed for Gaza article
A newspaper close to former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been closed down for publishing an article the authorities said was sympathetic to Israel, the official IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday.[…] "The reason for the closure of the newspaper is because it published an article yesterday in which it sanitised the Zionist regime's crimes in Gaza," Mohammad Parvizi of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry told IRNA.

Up to this point, most of the terror situations involved Muslims.  But there are a few instances where bad guys other than Muslims are involved, and Obama will be faced with these problems too.

Violence along the Mexico - United States border increases daily.  There has been a  string of kidnappings in Mexico, singling out people with children or spouses in the United States who can pay a ransom.

“The relatives of Mexicans in the United States have become a new profit center for Mexico’s crime industry,” said Rodolfo García Zamora, a professor at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas who studies migration trends. “Hundreds of families are emigrating out of fear of kidnap or extortion, and Mexicans in the U.S. are doing everything they can to avoid returning. Instead, they’re getting their relatives out.”  (NYT, hat tip Marcus Wilder)

These kidnappings for money are the least of our worries here in the Untied States.  Organized crime and terror  are nothing new in Mexico and had been slipping and sliding back and forth across the US border for years.  Drug lords and rival drug gangs routinely kill innocents as well as police, border agents.  Beheadings of Mexican law enforcement is not new either, but the fact that it is increasing and drawing closer to America is something we need to be very worried about.

The following video was sent to me by a reader.  It is the handiwork of Mexican drug lords.  More detailed information on the video in upcoming articles.  The video could be titled "coming to an American town near you". YouTube rejected the video, but Google accepted it:

From Strategic Forecast:

in Chilpancingo, Guerrero state, authorities discovered the severed heads of eight soldiers and a former state police director in a lot next to a large retail store. Next to the heads was a note that read, “For each one of mine that you kill, I will kill ten soldiers.” The bodies were found in two locations along nearby highways.

Authorities believe that the soldiers were killed in retaliation for an army firefight with a drug gang in the town of Teloloapan, which left at least three drug traffickers dead. Officials believe the beheaded soldiers in this case had been kidnapped randomly as they were leaving nearby army barracks. The former police director was reportedly abducted outside a bull fighting arena.[snip]

(click to view map)

Dec. 15

• A report released by Mexico’s national human rights commission estimates that approximately 99 percent of crimes in the country go unpunished.   (continue reading at StratFor)
  

January 2, 2009:  Twelve people were killed in northern Mexico close to the US border, including eight in Ciudad Juarez, in the latest violence attributed to the country's brutal drug war. (ABC)

The Dallas News reports:  'Drug-related violence in Mexico, already at unprecedented levels, is expected to escalate further this year, with targets likely to include top Mexican politicians and law enforcement agents and possibly even U.S. officials, according to diplomats and intelligence experts on both sides of the border.'

From the LA Times:  'The body count grows steadily, each massacre seemingly more gruesome than the one before. The flow of drugs to America and Europe continues virtually unabated.'  Representatives from Peru, Columbia and others offer their complaints and suggestions for curbing the flow of drugs through Mexico. 

Terry Nelson, Federal agent for 30 years with the U.S. Border Patrol, the Customs Service and the Department of Homeland Security, says:  "The Department of Justice reported [this month] that Mexican cartels are America's "greatest organized crime threat" because they "control drug distribution in most U.S. cities." If what we've been doing worked at all, we wouldn't be battling Mexican drug dealers in our own cities or anywhere else."  Unfortunately Mr. Nelson thinks "that legalizing and effectively regulating drugs will stop drug market crime and violence by putting major cartels and gangs out of business."

'Interviews with agents in numerous federal and local law enforcement agencies, border residents, and drug-war journalists paint a picture of a war beyond anything anyone has ever seen here before, an epidemic of murder and sadistic violence...'  The author of this article blames the United States and gun rights in bordering US states for the firepower the drug cartels have.  Obviously an America-hating Liberal.

The truth is Mexico is encroaching on Southern America.  The US citizens who live along our southern border know this better than anyone.  Illegal aliens cross their property, destroy their belongings, bring violence, drugs, and in many cases disease into our country.  The people who transport illegals for money are happy to transport terrorists, anybody or anything, for a price. 

The solution to this problem is the same as it is for Islamic terrorists around the world who attack American interests -- American military strength, rejecting multiculturalism, rejecting political correctness, rejecting illegal aliens on US soil, insisting on assimilation for ALL newcomers to the United States no matter what country they come from and no matter what religion they are, and finally securing our borders.

 * * *

(Thanks to Insights Into Today's Middle East for some background links)

Comments

[Ymarsakar]

The solution to this is to form local militias from Mexico or inside the United States to deal with this on a person, man to man, basis. Just like the Sons of Iraq did for US forces in the Sunni Triangle.

The Mexicans are the ones most interested in stopping this violence. They can do the job, if they are given the right military support. And it will also make assimilating them, legally, into the American sphere much faster.

What this means, however, is that you cut the Mexican government out of the loop, entirely. Just like the central gov of Iraq was cut out of the loop when US forces made independent deals with the Sunnis.

[Wayne from Jeremiah Films]

Debbie, I would not change a word, the post does make people stop and think.

[Debbie]

Wayne: Thank you for that link. Much appreciated.

Stanford Matthews:

I think probably concentrating one post on one situation at a time is the best, but sometimes it is good to see things listed all together in one place also. Makes us think.

The Burma and Mumbai situations are both mindboggling when we look at the true torture and terror that the victims experienced before death. There is true evil out there and I fear it has already gotten strong roots in the US.

[Stanford Matthews]

Some time back I made an attempt to raise awareness and concern about the situation in Burma and the useless intervention of the UN. No one seemed to care.

Your post features very relevant concerns. With all the turmoil in the world the list of problem areas is probably sensory overload for most people. And those in a position to do something about it are content with the overload and lack of public outcry.

Which is better? Focusing public attention on one at a time or all at once.

If there was more evidence of the one at a time approach solving problems I would lean that way. But just like one's personal life the other problems won't wait.

That is what international cooperation and things like the UN were supposed to accomplish. Taking care of the world's problems with all the world's nations. Guess we have to keep working on that idea.

[Wayne from Jeremiah Films]

I've linked to your post as information for "Obama's selection of Hillary Rodham Clinton for Sec State"

http://www.jeremiahfilms.com/released/WhiteHouse/Cabinet/STATE/901052300