Violence in China. Is this another example of Muslim terror? From FoxNews: “Unidentified” attackers rammed a dump truck into a patrol station in China’s Central Asian border province Monday morning, tossing grenades in a raid that killed 16 officers and wounded others, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. The attack in Xinjiang province was in an area where local Muslims have waged a sporadic rebellion against Chinese rule. It came just four days before the start of the Beijing Olympics — an event that at least one radical Muslim group has vowed to attack. Two of the attackers were arrested,
Read More +I used to categorize posts about China as Off-topic. Now I’ll be filing them under al-Qaeda. From Terror Camp in China Had Links to Al-Qaeda: Shi Dagang, a lawmaker from China’s Xinjiang region, confirmed Friday that 18 people from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), who were killed in a raid on a terror camp in January, had links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. “The terrorists were trained by the Taliban in Afghanistan and sent to China by them,” Shi said. “They had close connections to al-Qaeda.” Militants among the region’s dominant ethnic Uighurs are leading a violent Islamic separatist
Read More +Iran has converted its most powerful ballistic missile into a satellite launch vehicle. The 30-ton rocket could also be a wolf in sheep’s clothing for testing longer-range missile strike technologies, Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine reports in its Jan. 29 issue. The Iranian space launcher has recently been assembled and “will liftoff soon” with an Iranian satellite, according to Alaoddin Boroujerdi, the chairman of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. The move toward an independent space launch capacity is likely to ratchet up concern in the U.S. and Europe about Iran’s strategic capabilities and intents. Orbiting
Read More +The U.S. vetoed a Security Council resolution on Saturday that condemned Israel for its military actions in Gaza. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told the Council that the resolution “does not display an even-handed characterization of the recent events in Gaza, nor does it advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace.” In the vote, 4 countries abstained – Britain, Denmark, Japan, and Slovakia – and 10 were in favor – Argentina, China, Congo, France, Ghana, Greece, Peru, Russia, Qatar, and Tanzania. The U.S. traditionally opposes what it considers one-sided Security Council resolutions on Israel.
Read More +Pro-Palestinian Marxist-Leninist terrorist group Founded in 1967 by George Habash In 1970, succeeded in hijacking four airplanes over the course of six days Still operates in Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was established on December 11, 1967, six months after the end of the Six Day War. PFLP’s founder and General Secretary was George Habash, a socialist who was formerly a member of the group “Oppose to Political Settlement with Israel.” Habash’s leadership of PFLP was supplemented by Wadi’ Haddad. Both men were medical doctors who helped found the
Read More +Off topic: Keeping an eye on China
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Within sight of horrified climbers preparing an assault on Everest, Chinese troops stationed on the Tibet-Nepal border have shot dead at least two Tibetan refugees trying to cross the border. The refugees were trying to reach Nangpa La pass last Saturday and the Everest advance base camp was swarmed by Chinese troops after the shootout. Climbers regularly see caravans of traders and refugees crossing out of Tibet, but this is the first witness report by western climbers of the People’s Liberation Army shooting refugees…
Read More +Vandals attack synagogues in Russia
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Unidentified attackers vandalized two synagogues in Russia on Friday, shattering windows at one and briefly setting a door ablaze at another in attacks that highlighted rising xenophobia and anti-Semitism in Russia. No one was reported injured. Russia’s chief rabbi Berel Lazar said the Jewish community was shocked by the attacks, which happened hours before the Jewish New Year begins at sundown Friday. “It’s a pity that there are still some people who think they can solve their problems by hurling stones at holy buildings,” Lazar said in a statement released by his office. “It’s particularly sad that these incidents happened
Read More +Hat tip to Vital Perspective: Heads up — IAEA report on Iran’s continued defiance has been released, read it here and only here: IAEA Reports on Iran’s Continued Defiance; UNSC Must Swiftly Enact Sanctions We’ve just received a copy of the IAEA report being distributed to diplomats at the UN today on Iran’s nuclear program. Read the whole IAEA report exclusively here on Vital Perspective. As Sean McCormack, spokesman for the State Department said today, over the past three months Iran has “continued along the pathway to developing a nuclear weapon, continued in their defiance of the international community.” The
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