Somali pirates and Islam: natural allies?

Last year, we saw one major wave of Somali pirate attacks on tankers and other ships traversing the region.  In December, analysts were warning that, in its weakened state, Somalia may become a new safe haven for militant jihadis as well as pirates and other international criminals.

Around that same time, in a particularly ironic move the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab  “vowed” to hunt down and attack the pirates who hijacked a Muslim-owned Saudi oil tanker.

However, analysts have posited the idea that in fact the al-Shabaab extremists are in collusion with the pirates and have sought to take a share of any ransom gained. 

Now, UPI writer Claude Salhani suggests that Somali pirates are natural allies of radical Islam:

U.S. Navy warships supported by helicopter gunships tracked four Somali pirates and their American captive in the Horn of Africa throughout the weekend as American negotiators tried to obtain the release of the hostage.

Local militias, many of them adherents of strict Islamist theology, offer a fertile breeding ground to al-Qaida and its affiliates. If and when the day Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida begin to feel the pressure in their current safe haven, the region around the Horn of Africa will look very enticing.

ICE targets #2 threat to U.S.: violent transnational gangs

In the upcoming June/July issue of The CounterTerrorist, Jennifer Hesterman writes:

The previous director of the CIA surprised many when he stated that the violence in Mexico presents the number-two threat to U.S. national security, just behind al-Qaeda.

In that vein, Stratfor reports that local Chicago ICE, working closely with local law enforcement,  “made 17 arrests and lodged two detainers in a two-day operation targeting illegal aliens with ties to violent street gangs in Chicago’s northern and northwest suburbs last week.”

This is the latest joint local action of an ongoing national ICE effort to target foreign-born gang members. These arrests were made under an ongoing national ICE initiative called “Operation Community Shield,” in which ICE partners with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to target the significant public safety threat posed by transnational street gangs. “Street gangs pose a growing public safety threat to communities throughout this area,” said Gary Hartwig, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Chicago.

The new light weight armor for U.S. troops is…

…sitting in a warehouse in the U.S. on this fine April day, rather than protecting the backs of the U.S. troops in Afghanistan who so desperately need them. Said armor includes “the new lightweight bulletproof plates, part of what is known as a Modular Body Armor Vest.”  They are currently already in use by the military’s Special Operations Command, including the Rangers.

“The delay offers a new window into how Army rules have slowed the deployment of specialized gear that small units are seeking for harsh combat environments.”

Click here for more of this NYT story.

Mexican cartel drug trade at the southern border

…is the focus of a recent study by Stratfor. Of note are the means the traffickers employ:

… the specific nature and corridors of those movements are constantly in flux as traffickers innovate in their attempts to stay ahead of the police in a very Darwinian environment. The traffickers employ all forms of movement imaginable, including:

• Tunneling under border fences into safe houses on the U.S. side.
• Floating narcotics across isolated stretches of the river.
• Flying small aircraft near the ground to avoid radar.
• Concealing narcotics in private vehicles, personal possessions and in or on the bodies of persons who are crossing legally at ports of entry.
• Bribing border officials in order to pass through checkpoints.
• Hiding narcotics on cross-border trains.
• Shipping narcotics via mail or parcel service.

Stratfor also looks at how U.S. gangs get in on the action:

While Mexican cartels do have representatives in cities across the United States to oversee networks there, local gangs get involved in the actual distribution of the narcotics.

For more, click here.

U.S. web hosting companies renting cyberspace to extremists?

On a routine basis, reports the Washington Post.

Apparently, American-owned Web-hosting outfits often unknowingly rent cyberspace to anti-American extremists, and the practice is growing.

Intelligence officials and private experts cite dozens of instances in which Islamist militants sought out U.S. Internet firms — known for their reliable service and easy terms that allow virtual anonymity — and used them to incite attacks on Americans.

“The relatively cheap expense and high quality of U.S. servers seems to attract jihadists,” said Rita Katz, co-founder of the Site Intelligence Group, a private company that monitors the communications of Muslim extremist groups. Even al-Qaeda has sometimes paid American companies to serve as conduits for its hate-filled messages, said Katz, who has tracked such activity since 2003.

The firms acknowledge that it is not always easy to spot militants’ activity….Yvonne Donaldson, spokeswoman for ThePlanet, said the firm cannot afford to monitor every site and instead reacts to complaints, as it did in the case of alemarrah1.com. “If the complaint is credible, we notify the authorities,” she said.

Concerns over Chinese ASB missiles targeting U.S. carriers

U.S. Naval Institute (via Military.com) reports:

With tensions already rising due to the Chinese navy becoming more aggressive in asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy seems to have yet another reason to be deeply concerned.

After years of conjecture, details have begun to emerge of a “kill weapon” developed by the Chinese to target and destroy U.S. aircraft carriers.

First posted on a Chinese blog viewed as credible by military analysts and then translated by the naval affairs blog Information Dissemination, a recent report provides a description of an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) that can strike carriers and other U.S. vessels at a range of 2000km.

The range of the modified Dong Feng 21 missile is significant in that it covers the areas that are likely hot zones for future confrontations between U.S. and Chinese surface forces.

While details of this weapon have been widely discussed for some time, certain information has recently been relayed indicating that the “weapon system is operational.”

For more on this story, click here.

Chinese, Russian cyberspies hack U.S. electricity grid

So, as we know, China has a growing cyber militia; has hacked NASA to steal secret information on satellites, rockets, etc.; and is considered to be “one of the greatest potential espionage threats over the next decade.” Most recently, we learned that China hacked classified documents of government and private organizations from over 103 countries (Russia was absent from the list).

Now, intelligence agencies have discovered that cyberspies from China, Russia and other countries have infiltrated our electricity grid, leaving behind software to disrupt the system. Reportedly, their goal was to map the system and its controls. The hackers did not try to damage the grid in this instance but (the article suggests) by leaving behind the disruptive software, they could have regained access to it in the future to disrupt or damage it.

Officials said water, sewage and other infrastructure systems also were at risk.

“Over the past several years, we have seen cyberattacks against critical infrastructures abroad, and many of our own infrastructures are as vulnerable as their foreign counterparts,” Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair recently told lawmakers. “A number of nations, including Russia and China, can disrupt elements of the U.S. information infrastructure.”

Is it true that thus far we have “lost the counterintelligence war against the Chinese intelligence services”?

H/T: Rhetorican and Instapundit.

F-16 fighters escort stolen Cessna across the Midwest

Via Instapundit.com.

ABC News reports:

A Cessna was stolen from Ontario, Canada Thunder Bay International Airport just before 3:00 p.m. by a flight student and is currently flying over the Midwest, escorted by two military F-16s. “The pilot has been unresponsive to multiple requests that he establish communications with ground controllers.” CBP is also monitoring the stolen plane.  It has been tracked since it entered Michigan’s UP around 3:25 p.m. and flew over Minnesota, through Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri.

Details are scarce except that the offender is a student and his motives are unknown.

“When asked if the fighter jets might have to shoot down the aircraft if it shows hostile intent, Kucharek told ABC News that could happen.

‘NORAD pilots, once authorized by higher authority, are authorized to use everything within their power to protect U.S. citizens, up to and including lethal force,’ he said.”

Another point of interest:

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane was flying for a while at 14,500 feet. Over 10,000 feet the air is quite thin and commercial planes would be pressurized, but the Cessna 172 is not. As a result, the pilot could be suffering from hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, which can lead to confusion.

The plane later dropped its altitude to 3,700 feet, where there is more oxygen.

For more on this story, click here.

Update: ABC News reports that the pilot is 31- year old Yavuz Berke, (formerly known as Adam Leon), a naturalized Canadian citizen of Turkish origin. Reportedly, his goal was to commit “suicide by cop,” by “fly[ing] the aircraft into the United States where he would be shot down…[h]e stated several times that at any time he thought he was going to be shot down.”

Instead, Berke landed the single-engine Cessna 172 on U.S. Highway 60 in Ellsinore, Mo., at 9:50 p.m. ET. He made his way to a convenience store where a clerk noticed him and called police. He was found drinking Gatorade, seemingly relieved that his ordeal was over.

H/T: The Rhetorican

“Arab-Latin American ties hailed”…

So reports Al Jazeera following the second Arab-Latin American summit at the beginning of April in Qatar:

Latin American leaders have underscored the importance of economic and political ties with the Arab world in a summit meeting with their Arab counterparts in Qatar.

Tuesday’s meeting, the second Arab-Latin American summit, in Doha, the Qatari capital, followed the conclusion of the Arab League conference in the city.

Though geographically distant, the two blocs are looking to step up trade and investment flows.

The meeting reflects Latin America’s changing priorities – with left-of-centre governments dominating the region, there has been a move away from the US and a push to embrace a multipolar world.

Opening the conference, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, said: “We feel there are a lot of similarities between South America and the Arab world. Both of us also hope for a better future for our populations and we face many of the same challenges.”

For more on this story, click here.

We’re “not at war with Islam,” FYI.

I’d have to agree, and I’m glad Obama said it.

Al Jazeera’s Anita McNaught, reporting from Istanbul, said: “This was the address we had all been waiting for, it hit all the right notes.

“He talked about the contribution of the Islamic faith in the life of American Muslims and then he personalised that message by saying ‘I know because I am one of them’. It was a message that reached out to many today.”

“Of course it needs to be followed up by actions and by discernible policy changes.”

Obama’s address was given in Turkey shortly after a series of private talks between him and Turkish President Abdullah Gul. No mention was made of the Cyprus issue, although he endorsed Turkey’s membership bid for admission into the EU.

Major shifts in defense programs, budget in store…

The Washington Post reports that several major defense programs will be restructured soon, as the Obama administration is reportedly “shift[ing] military spending from preparations for large-scale war against traditional rivals to the counterinsurgency programs that Gates and others consider likely to dominate U.S. conflicts in coming decades.”

Can’t say I’m arguing!

H/T: The Considered Opinion