AUTHOR:
TerrorismCentral Editorial Staff
TITLE:
TerrorismCentral Newsletter - June 19, 2005
SOURCE:
TerrorismCentral, June 19, 2005
TEXT:
From the theft of 40 million credit card accounts spending on weapons that tops $1 trillion, there are some big numbers in this week's issue. In addition to other details of cyberthreats, the News Highlights review key events from around the globe in the past week. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report that countries around the world spent $162 on weapons for each person alive is the topic of this week's Feature Article, "Breaking the Trillion-Dollar Mark".
1. World
2. Africa
3. Americas
4. Asia Pacific
5. Europe
6. Middle East
7. South Asia
8. Cyberterrorism and Information Warfare
9. Finance
10 Human Rights
11. Law and Legal Issues
12. Transportation
13. Weapons of Mass Destruction
14. Recently Published
FEATURE ARTICLE:
Breaking the Trillion-Dollar Mark
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
Indonesia has confirmed its first case of avian influenza in humans, while in Vietnam another four cases have been reported. With increasing numbers of cases found in migrating and domestic birds, the chance of the deadly H5N1 strain crossing to animals commonly used in the human food chain increases, as does the chance of mutation to a highly infectious human form.
http://www.who.int/topics/avian_influenza/en/
The UN Environmental Program released reports on the impact of the December 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The assessments found that damage was greatest where villages of cultivated land was next to the sea with little or no coastal protection. In places where natural coastal forest and vegetation was intact, the damage was least.
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=434&ArticleID=4814&l=en
http://www.unep.org/tsunami/maldives_rpt.asp
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=434&ArticleID=4815&l=e
The World Day to Combat Desertification was marked on June 17, focusing on the role women play in regions affected by desertification and drought.
http://www.unccd.int/
The Millennium Ecosystem System "Desertification Synthesis" warns that degradation of dry lands rising from human activities and climate change imperil millions of people, and harm efforts to reduce poverty and hunger.
http://www.millenniumassessment.org
Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos asked the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of a new election law, possibly postponing elections planned for next year.
Burundi's government and rebels of the National Liberation Forces (FNL) completed six days of peace talks, which will resume as soon as a ceasefire is confirmed. Fighting continued during the talks, killing two civilians, two soldiers, and three FNL fighters. A peacekeeper shot during election violence has also died of his wounds.
Central African Republic's constitutional court swore in President Bozize, who won the runoff election. Clashes between government troops and rebels in the northwest following the elections forced another 8,000 people to flee into Chad.
Insecurity in Democratic Republic of Congo, including the death of a UN peacekeeper, threatens the electoral process. Gangsterism and illegal arms are shoring up the ongoing violence, and elections have been postponed for six months.
Ethiopia continued actions against opposition demonstrators despite a political agreement to end violence and investigate alleged election abuses, but the government has begun to release those detained during their recent crackdown.
Guinea may become the next failed state, according to a new report from the International Crisis Group. The report warns of political intrigue over President Conte's succession and the need for quick action by the government and the international community.
http://www.crisisgroup.org
Ivory Coast rebels deny having agreed to disarm and accuse the government of planning to launch an offensive against the rebel-held north that would reopen the civil war.
Nigeria's capital, Lagos, received security threats that led to the temporary closure of the British, German, Italian, Russian, and US diplomatic missions. In the oil-rich Delta, a group of gunmen kidnapped six Shell oil workers, who were later freed after talks and without conditions. The kidnappers were angry because Shell's promises to support Nigerian development had not been met.
In Senegal, a breakaway faction of the rebel Movement of Democratic Forces in Casamance (MFDC) admitted responsibility for a series of recent attacks, which have threatened cashew production. MFDC signed a peace agreement with the government last year.
Somalia's government is leaving exile in Kenya and returning, but the two main factions of the government still disagree over whether to base the government in Jowhar and Baidoa, where the local warlord opposes it, or in the capital Mogadishu, where there are serious security concerns.
South Africa's President Mbeki has dismissed his deputy, Jacob Zuma, after Zuma was implicated in a corruption scandal. The announcement has been praised as evidence of determination to fight corruption and encourage good governance.
Sudan has opened a special war crimes court to consider charges against some 160 unnamed Sudanese from Darfur. This alternative to the International Criminal Court is not viewed as credible. The security situation in Darfur remains serious, and is not addressed in a new peace agreement with the opposition group the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). NDA will now join the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in a power-sharing administration.
Uganda's army reports killing at least 19 Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil, a jail riot that lasted 30 hours ended peacefully after lengthy negotiations freed guards held hostage. The fighting began with gang rivalry that left five dead and much of the jail burned down.
Colombian President Uribe's attempt to lengthen his term could "weaken democratic institutions and even damage the country's prospects for peace". The International Crisis Group also suggests that "Re-election would allow Uribe to continue his strategy against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), but that security policy, with its overwhelming reliance on military measures, is unlikely to bring peace".
http://www.crisisgroup.org
In Haiti, continuing clashes led to several casualties among peacekeeping troops. Meanwhile, a UN advisory group on Haiti recommended policies for next year's elected government to address this critical problem: "Some 76 per cent of an estimated population of 8.5 million live in poverty, with 55 per cent in extreme poverty (less than $1 a day). The most worrying part is that over the last 25 years, the country has not experienced any durable sequence of growth".
http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=E/2005/66
Mexican troops have taken control of the border town of Nuevo Laredo to investigate links between police and drug traffickers. Drug-related violence in the town is responsible for 45 deaths this year, including the murder of the police chief on his first day of duty, and has spread across the US border.
The US Justice Department's database includes 361 cases defined as terrorism investigations. Washington Post reporters reviewed this material, in addition to about 40 cases filed since they obtained the list. The evaluation excluded 31 entries that had been sealed, those detained in Guantanamo Bay and abroad, or those held in military detention and as material witnesses. The analysis found that only about ten percent of these cases actually had links to terrorism. In 180 cases "no connection to al Qaeda or another terrorist group could be found in court records, official statements, the 9/11 commission report or news accounts". Even in terrorism-related cases, many of the terrorism allegations were later dropped. Of the 142 linked with terrorist groups, "39 were convicted of crimes related to terrorism or national security. More than a dozen defendants were acquitted or had their charges dismissed...." Regarding sentencing, since "the most common convictions were fraud, making false statements, passport violations and conspiracy", the median sentence for all cases adjudicated, whether or not they were terrorism-related, was 11 months". Get complete details, including additional data analysis from:
Dan Eggen and Julie Tate, " U.S. Campaign Produces Few Convictions on Terrorism Charges Statistics Often Count Lesser Crimes"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/11/AR2005061100381.html
Mary Beth Sheridan, "Immigration Law as Anti-Terrorism Tool"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/12/AR2005061201441.html
In a related topic, the Justice Department's Inspector General released a "Review of the Terrorist Screening Center". The redacted report finds that consolidation of government watch lists had been completed but that its completeness and accuracy could not be verified. The audit found missing and inaccurate records and procedural weaknesses that raise concerns regarding database controls, call center management, security, staffing, data coordination and other issues, and offered recommendations to address them.
http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/FBI/a0527/final.pdf
President Bush issued a directive that establishes the national intelligence director (John Negroponte) will have "authority, direction and control" over the Program Manager for information sharing (John Russack).
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050602-9.html
Australia has completed the withdrawal of its peacekeeping troops from East Timor. The two countries are continuing negotiations over oil and gas reserves in the disputed maritime border.
http://www.timor.com/
http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/east_timor/
Bougainville's new autonomous government was sworn in among accolades for their adherence to the peace agreement that ended secessionist fighting against Papua New Guinea in 1998. The new president, Joseph Kabui, said that the government's first priority was to provide goods and services to the people.
Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi turns 60 years old today, still under house arrest. Around the world, people and governments have used this occasion to call for her release and that the Burmese government engage in a genuine democratic process.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/asia-pacific/4103968.stm
Amnesty International called for all 1,350 political prisoners to be released.
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA160202005
In Cambodia, four masked gunmen seized dozens of children at an international school, holding nearly 40 children and two teachers hostage for six hours, until police negotiators were able to negotiate a resolution. A 3-year-old Canadian boy was killed during the siege. Investigators now report that the siege was a revenge attack by a driver against his abusive employer.
Chinese peasants under attack by gangs employed by a state-owned electricity company were filmed on a video obtained by the Washington Post. The footage graphically documents one of China's deadliest incidents of rural unrest, in which six farmers were killed and up to a hundred seriously injured, during the land dispute.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061401542.html
China is beginning to draft its first anti-terrorism law.
Hong Kong's new leader, Donald Tsang, has been confirmed. The Beijing election committee agreed his nomination with a large margin that means no formal election is necessary.
In Kyrgyzstan violent protests continued during the week, with dozens of casualties, particularly around possession of the main government complex in the capital, Bishkek. Presidential elections are still scheduled for next month, and five of the candidates have signed a politically binding commitment to a fair and honest campaign.
The Philippine army reports it killed 14 rebels with a breakaway faction of the communist New People's Army, during operations on Luzon island.
In southern Thailand, the head of a Buddhist man was found with a note saying his murder was in response to the arrest of a prominent Muslim student leader the previous week. Such sectarian violence in the Muslim majority south has claimed more than 700 lives since January 2004.
Uzbek government actions last month in Andijan will be investigated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, but the US and Russia have blocked demands for an international probe at NATO. Russia and the US are concerned that their bases in the country remain accessible.
In France, the police headquarters in Paris have agreed to transfer their archives to the Paris Holocaust memorial museum, revealing the extent of Nazi collaboration to the public for the first time.
A Russian human rights official in Chechnya acknowledged that the war had seen a huge scale of human rights abuses, including the disappearance of tens of thousands of civilians and more than 50 mass graves.
Serbian authorities have arrested all five of the alleged Scorpion members who were shown in the video footage of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre that was released by the UN war crimes tribunal last week.
Spanish police in a number of anti-terrorism raids have arrested five suspects held in connection with the March 2004 Madrid train bombings, while another 11 were arrested for alleged links to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is leading insurgent attacks in Iraq. The latter arrests are believed to have broken up a network that was recruiting and assisting suicide bombers for Iraq.
Basque newspaper Gara has reported on a statement from separatist group ETA that says changes in the political climate mean it will no longer attack Spanish politicians, and they are waiting for a positive response from France and Spain to this message.
In the UK, London police operations raided three addresses and made four arrests in a plot linked to a dissident anti-Iranian group.
In Northern Ireland, an Orange Order parade erupted in violence with clashes between nationalist protestors and loyalist marchers when the parade passed an Ardoyne flashpoint. This is the first parade affected by new rules governing the behavior of supporters. This is among the first of a series of parades. (For marching season background, see
https://terrorismcentral.com/Newsletters/2003/070603.html#FeatureArticle)
Israelis and Palestinians have begun slowly to move toward coordinating the implementation of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the northern West Bank. US Secretary of State Rice, speaking after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Sharon, said that both Israel and the Palestinians had agreed that Jewish homes in Gaza will be destroyed when Israel pulls out.
In Gaza, one Israeli soldier and one Palestinian militant have been killed after militants with Islamic Jihad and another militant group fired rockets on the Philadelphi route.
Iran's elections began after a wave of bombings that killed nine. Amid a reportedly high turnout has come an unexpected result: the first presidential election in which no candidate gained a majority. For the first time, the presidential election will go to a second round, which will take place on July 1. Cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani garnered 21 percent of the vote and will face conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the mayor of Tehran, who received 19 percent of the vote.
"One Day in Iraq" is a BBC program that gives a remarkable flavor of life in the turbulent country. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2005/day_in_iraq/default.stm
This microcosm reflects both the continuing violence and underlying social and economic efforts in civil society and government.
During the week the casualty count continued to rise. In addition to military casualties and extrajudicial killings, a suicide car bomber killed himself and two policemen in Tikrit; two attacks in Baghdad killed six; and three people were killed in Samarra. A suicide bomber attacked people standing in line outside a Kirkuk bank, leaving 24 dead and 50 injured. Iraqi police were targeted in a suicide attack at an army canteen in Khalis, killing at least 23. Today in Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed himself and at least 16 people in a restaurant.
Iraqi and US forces have launched another major action. Operation Spear is targeting insurgents and foreign fighters on the border with Syria and, in parallel, to locate arms caches. Fighting has been heavy, with dozens of insurgents and about ten civilians reported dead so far. An earlier operation during the week also resulted in the location and freedom of Australian hostage Douglas Wood.
Despite the violence, the political process is moving forward, with a compromise over participation between Sunni and Shia in the constitutional panel. The agreement should help make the process of drafting the constitution more inclusive.
http://www.iraqigovernment.org/index_en.htm
Lebanon's fourth and final round of elections is underway in the north. This final phase will determine control of parliament. Meanwhile, UN investigators say that former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed by a truck filled with explosives, not as previously reported explosives buried under the road. The investigation continues.
Afghanistan's Taliban insurgency continues to increase in strength, with the death of a district police chief, kidnapping dozens of Afghan officials, and fatal attacks against coalition forces. British reinforcements are due to arrive to help with security and prevent interference with the forthcoming elections.
In the Indian state Gujarat, families of Muslims killed in the 2002 riots have filed lawsuits against Hindu nationalist organizations, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, which governs the state. In Rajasthan state five people were killed during protests over control of water.
A car bomb in Indian-administered Kashmir outside a high school killed 14 and injured more than 100, including many students. A strike was called to protest the attack. Responsibility is unknown, but has been blamed on both separatists and Indian agencies.
Nepal has advertised in a state-run paper for weapons, following the suspension of supplies from the UK, US, etc. Amnesty International suggests that since both rebels and the government make no distinction between combatants and civilians, all weapons sales should be suspended.
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA310472005
Pakistan's President Musharraf has visited Australia and New Zealand to enhance economic and political ties. Australia and Pakistan have reached agreement to share counterterrorism intelligence information.
http://www.infopak.gov.pk/
In Sir Lanka, a tsunami-aid deal to ensure Tamil Tiger rebels receive equal distribution with the rest of the country has proved highly controversial. A participating party in the governing coalition has left in protest, and police used force against Buddhist monks opposed to the plan, believing it gives the Tigers legitimacy. In a related controversy, the government has defended charging the charity Oxfam $1 million customs duty for bringing in vehicles for tsunami relief, stating that the rules applied to all, including charities.
8. Cyberterrorism and Information Warfare
MasterCard International reported it is notifying member financial institutions of a data breach that occurred at payment processor CardSystems Solutions, which potentially exposed more than 40 million cards of all brands to fraud, including nearly 14 million branded by MasterCard. MasterCard has urged the US Congress to extend the data protections under Gramm-Leach-Bliley to include third party processors and other entities that store consumer financial data whether or not the directly interact with consumers.
http://www.mastercardinternational.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.cgi?id=1038
Sophisticated Trojan attacks originating from Asia have targeted nearly 300 government departments and businesses considered part of Britain's Critical National Infrastructure. The UK National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre's (NISCC) briefing warns that:
* The attackers' aim appears to be covert gathering and transmitting of commercially or economically valuable information
* Trojans are delivered either in email attachments or through links to a website
* IP addresses used for sending emails and controlling trojans, along with email header information, are often linked to the Far-East
* The emails employ social engineering, including use of a spoofed sender address and information relevant to the recipient's job or interests to entice them into opening the documents
* Once installed on a user machine, trojans may be used to obtain passwords, scan networks, exfiltrate information and launch further attacks
* Anti-virus software and firewalls do not give complete protection. Trojans can communicate with the attackers using common ports (e.g. HTTP, DNS, SSL) and can be modified to avoid anti-virus detection
http://www.niscc.gov.uk/niscc/docs/ttea.pdf
The US Government Accountability Office warns that "Emerging Cybersecurity Issues Threaten Federal Information Systems". The report finds that the combined threats from spam, phishing and spyware pose security risks to federal information systems that cannot be easily mitigated with the tools currently available.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-231
VeriSign's latest Internet Security Intelligence Briefing reports growth in consumer transactions of 31 percent, but fraud remains a problem, with pharming the most dangerous new tactic.
http://www.verisign.com/verisign-inc/news-and-events/news-archive/us-news-2005/page_030922.html
Microsoft's latest security update includes three major flaws that could allow remote control of a personal computer as well as seven less serious flaws.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms05-jun.mspx
Motorola workers were notified of the possible disclosure of personal information resulting from the theft of two computers stolen from their human resources outsourcing firm's office.
http://www.reuters.com/audi/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=8760673
The Liberty Alliance Project has launched the Identity Protection Group to establish best practices to tackle the threat to digital identity posed by phishing.
http://www.projectliberty.org/
Research undertaken by mobile security company Pointsec highlights the risks of removable media. "Removable Media in the Workplace" reports:
* Removable media devices are being used in 84% of companies.
* On average 31 percent of employees within a company are utilizing them in the office.
* 90 percent of those surveyed were aware of the potential danger that removable media presents.
* A third of organizations state that removable media is being used within their company without authorization.
* 41 percent of IT professionals are not aware how easy it is to protect the data on a removable media device. http://www.pointsec.com/news/news_pressrelease.asp?PressID=2005_June_13
The US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a hearing on Identity Theft in which testimony addressed ways to strengthen protection of consumer data.
http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1536
Muhammad Yunis Ahmad was designated by the US Treasury as "a financial facilitator and operational leader of the New Regional Command of the reconstituted Ba'ath Party" who provides "guidance, financial support and coordination of insurgent attacks throughout Iraq". This designation blocks property and prohibits business activity in the US.
http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js2500.htm
"Operation Mallorca" was directed against the Colombian Black Market Pesos Exchange, targeting money laundering activities. The US Drug Enforcement Agency says that " To date, the investigation has documented 68 separate transfers of drug money totaling over $12 million organized and directed by Martinez, Chain, and De Castro in San Juan, Puerto Rico; New York; and Miami. Monies were laundered through approximately 300 wire transfers to 200 bank accounts, involving 170 separate account holders, in 16 U.S. cities and 13 foreign countries. In addition, investigative efforts revealed 13 different trafficking groups in Colombia."
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr061405.html
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime 1004 "Andean Coca Survey" reports that coca production in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru rose overall by t3 percent after a sustained decline over the previous five years.
http://www.unodc.org/pdf/andean/Part1_excutive_summary.pdf
The Industry Trust for IP Awareness published new case studies that "highlight that DVD piracy is not the sole pursuit of loveable 'Del Boy' characters. Instead, DVD traders are part of the framework of criminality, which also includes drugs and offensive weapons that are a feature in many of the UK's town and cities problems". In the first quarter of 2005, the Federation Against Copyright Theft seized 41 percent more pirate DVDs than the same period last year. The value of this trade is estimated at more than GBP 600 million in 2004, and expected to exceed GBP 1 billion within three years.
http://www.piracyisacrime.com/index.html
http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/index.htm
Note coverage of cyberattacks against financial institutions described above.
Uganda's Constitutional Court, in a 3-2 ruling, found that capital punishment is not unconstitutional when imposed as a penalty following due process but that mandatory death sentencing is unconstitutional and that those laws must be rewritten.
The US Supreme Court, in a 6-3 vote, overturned the conviction of Thomas Joe Miller-El, who had been sentenced to death for murder in 1986 in a trial in which black jurors were deliberately excluded, an act the court concluded was discriminatory.
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/04pdf/03-9659.pdf
Argentina's Supreme Court ruled that the amnesty laws protecting former military officials are unconstitutional, thereby making it possible to prosecute them for human rights abuses during the "dirty war" of the 1986-83 military junta.
The US Senate, which for decades blocked efforts to make lynching and similar mob violence against blacks a federal crime, has issued an apology for failing to act and "expresses the deepest sympathies and most solemn regrets of the Senate to the descendants of victims of lynching". 80 senators voted in favor, but 20 did not sign the apology. Nearly 5,000 people, mostly black men, were lynched between 1880 and 1960.
http://www.senate.gov
http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/lynching.htm
Bongami Dyani, a South African trial attorney in the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has resigned after failing to disclose allegations that he had been charged with attempted murder and robbery in 2010.
http://www.ictr.org/ENGLISH/PRESSREL/2005/437.htm
At the invitation of the government of Canada, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention completed a mission in which they visited facilities across the country. Their initial observations stressed that Canada observes the rule of law, with a strong and independent judiciary, robust efforts to address systemic issues and alternatives to incarceration and generally positive actions. However, they raised concerns regarding pre-sentencing detention and detention of asylum seekers and immigrants, leading to a situation in which there are now more persons detained while awaiting trial or sentencing at any one time than there are persons actually serving a sentence in detention.
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/FCB5AC0B475523B2C1257022004450C4?opendocument
Australia, softening its rules on immigrants who arrive without visas, will no longer hold families with children in detention centers. http://www.immi.gov.au/
Burundi and Rwanda announced that Rwandan refugees were illegal immigrants who had left home without good reason, opening the likelihood they will be forcibly repatriated in violation of international refugee law.
The US Senate Judiciary Committee has held hearings on detainees.
http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=1542
For a detailed description of the treatment of one detainee, see Time magazine's June 20 issue.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1071284,00.html
Microsoft is censoring the Chinese version of its blog tool, MSN spaces, to block words such as "democracy" and Dalai Lama".
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=14069
"Dieman A I", "Kawa H", and "Najat O" have been arrested in Germany for allegedly helping finance Ansar al-Islam, a militant Kurdish group. The three men are Iraqi nationals living in southern Germany.
Yevgeny Adamov's potential extradition remains undecided. A Swiss court ruled the former nuclear energy minister should be released because it violated Swiss and international law. He was arrested on a US warrant connected with money laundering and conspiracy, but Russia has asked he is repatriated to ensure nuclear secrets will not be compromised. Adamov remains in custody pending an appeal to the supreme court.
Travis Biehn, a 17-year-old Canadian, was found guilty in US court of possessing bomb-making materials and threatening to blow up his school Sentencing will take place following psychological evaluation and background checks.
Arif Durrani was deported from Mexico, where he had been held on an immigration violation, to the US, where he was wanted on charges of illegal shipments to Iran's air force. He had previously been convicted of selling missile guidance systems to Iran in the 1980s, violating US embargoes.
Luis Echeverria, former president of Mexico, may face human rights charges connected with a 1971 student massacre. The Supreme Court ruled that the 30-year statute of limitations began in 1976 after he left office, opening the way for a lower court to determine whether there is enough evidence for a prosecution.
Sean Kelly, convicted of the 1993 Shankill Road bombing in which ten people died, had been freed from prison in July 2000 under the Good Friday Agreement but, following intelligence indicating he has been involved again in terrorism, he has been returned to prison.
http://www.nio.gov.uk/media-detail.htm?newsID=11689
Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev, a Chechen rebel, has been accused by Russian prosecutors of masterminding the murder last year of Paul Klebnikov, a US journalist who edited the Russian edition of Forbes magazine. Four other Chechens were also charged in the case, but only two are in custody.
Omar Said Omar was re-arrested in Kenya last week, shortly after he was acquitted of murder charges connected with the 2002 Mombasa hotel bombing.
Jose Padilla, in US custody as a "enemy combatant" since 2002, was denied a hearing in the US Supreme Court over his detention until he has gone through the appeals court process.
Luis Posada Carriles's extradition from the US to Venezuela has been made formally under a 1922 treaty. Since then, the US has refused to extradite people to a country that may hand them over to Cuba. Posada is accused of a number of terrorist attacks in Venezuela and Cuba. He is in custody in Texas, where he is held on immigration charges pending an asylum application for which he has requested moving the case to Florida.
Ghulam Rama has been sentenced to five years in prison in French court on charges of criminal association related to a terrorist enterprise. The Pakistani man led the French charity Chemin Droit and is linked to the militant Islamic group Lashkar-e-Toiba and of having contact with shoe bomber Richard Reid. Frenchmen Hassan El Cheguer and Hakim Mokhfi, also members of Chemin Droit, were sentenced to terms matching their time in custody and will be released soon.
Dr. Rafiq Abdus Sabir, charged last week in Florida with supporting al Qaeda, will be held without bail and transferred to New York, where he will be tried with alleged co-conspirator Tarik Shah.
Frans van Anraat will remain in detention in the Netherlands following a court approval that prosecutors can take more time to interview witnesses. He is charged with supplying chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein to be used in genocide, but denies knowledge of what use the chemicals were intended.
he US Transportation Security Administration announced the successful pilot program of a new explosives detection trace system that will now be expanded to additional airports.
http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=44&content=0900051980137c28
At the Paris Air Show, Raytheon announced the Vigilant Eagle system that offers "a new, affordable ground-based airport protection system that uses high power microwave technology to protect commercial aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles". It uses a " pre-positioned grid of passive infrared sensors, mounted on cell phone towers or buildings to cover the required detection space.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=149999&TICK=RTN&STORY=/www/story/06-14-2005/0003870769&EDATE=Jun+14,+2005
Last week's Weekly Piracy Report cited alerts in Somalia, Indonesia, and Nigeria:
"Somalian waters
Serious attacks have resumed off the eastern coast of Somalia. Since 31.03.2005, five incidents were reported where pirates armed with guns and grenades have attacked ships and fired upon them. In three incidents crew were held hostage and ransom demanded. Some of these attacks took place far away from Somali coast. Eastern and northeastern coasts of Somalia continue to be high-risk areas for hijackings. Ships not making scheduled calls to ports in these areas should stay at least 50 miles or as far away as practical from the eastern coast of Somalia.
"Anambas / Natuna islands, Indonesia
Six incidents have been reported since 03.04.2005 in the vicinity of Anambas / Natuna islands. Groups of pirates armed with guns and long knives have boarded ships underway and robbed ships' cash and personal belongings.
"Bonny River, Nigeria
Four incidents have been reported since 24.05.2005 around fairway buoy"
http://www.icc-ccs.org/prc/piracyreport.php
There is also a new report of pirates attacking ships in Basra, Iraq's only reliable port open for oil exports.\
The US Department of Homeland Security has extended the deadline for biometric passports until October 26, to give countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program (Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland) more time. The original deadline had been in 2003, but implementation has faced serious technical obstacles.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=4542
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/content_multi_image/content_multi_image_0006.xml
A US House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing on "Mismanagement of the Border Surveillance System" to discuss failures of the surveillance program, with testimony from the General Services Administration.
http://hsc.house.gov/release.cfm?id=371
http://hsc.house.gov/files/Testimony.Gallay_06-16-2005.pdf
13. Weapons of Mass Destruction
On June 14, 1946, Bernard Baruch, the US representative to the UN Atomic Energy Commission, introduced his plan to aver permanent nuclear terror with these words: " We are here to make a choice between the quick and the dead. That is our business…If we fail, then we have damned every man to be the slave of fear". The Carnegie International Non-Proliferation Conference, "Sixty Years Later" will review this failed plan and other lessons on November 7-8.
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/npp/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=17078
Iran has confirmed that, despite previously saying that plutonium experiments had ended in 1993, they had actually taken place in 1995 and 1998. Uranium enrichment efforts remain on hold while negotiations with Europe continue, but further IAEA inspections of two military facilities suspected of harboring nuclear work have not been allowed. North Korea is continuing their nuclear programs, but Kim Jong Il said that North Korea would return to negotiations if treated with respect.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei has been re-appointed to a third 4-year term. Note his latest report to the Board of Governors.
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2005/dg_reappointment.html
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Statements/2005/ebsp2005n007.html
Saudi Arabia has signed the Small Quantities Protocol, which allows states with up to 10 tons of natural uranium and 2.2 pounds of plutonium to forgo reporting and limit inspections.
A US House subcommittee on National Security held a hearing on "Elusive Antidotes: Progress Developing Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Countermeasures", looking at the numerous avenues being pursued to address these threats. http://reform.house.gov/NSETIR/Hearings/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=29010
The administration plans to begin introducing legislation to address chemical security, rather than relying entirely on private measures.
Mia Bloom, "Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror", Columbia University
Alan Calder and Steve Watkins, "IT Governance: A Manager's Guide to Data Security and BS 7799/ ISO 17799", Kogan Page
http://www.kogan-page.co.uk/bookdetails.aspx?ISBN=0749444142
Larry Diamond, "Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq", Times Books/Henry Holt
Michael Enright, et al, "Regional Powerhouse: The Greater Pearl River Delta and the Rise of China", John Wiley
Richard N. Haass, "The Opportunity: America's Moment to Alter History's Course", Public Affairs
David E. Murphy, "What Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa", Yale University Press
Constantine Pleshakov, "Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten Days of World War II on the Eastern Front", Houghton Mifflin
Richard Zacks, "The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805", Hyperion
FEATURE ARTICLE: Breaking the Trillion-Dollar Mark
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) conducts "research on questions of conflict and cooperation of importance for international peace and security, with the aim of contributing to an understanding of the conditions for peaceful solutions of international conflicts and for a stable peace". Their research projects range from armed conflict and conflict management to early-warning indicators for preventive policy.
This year "SIPRI Yearbook 2005: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security" found that for the first time, in 2004 global weapons expenditures exceeded the $1 trillion mark.
Highlights from the report are reproduced herewith:
"Security and conflicts
"* In 2004 it became obvious that maintaining control over Iraqi territory would require capabilities other than high-intensity warfare and more manpower than in the technology-intensive phase of the war.
"* Many of the conflicts that continue to produce the greatest number of deaths, casualties and suffering are wars of long duration. Far from soliciting more attention, their long-standing and recurrent nature tend to make them less visible internationally. Although the current international emphasis on the prevention of violent conflict is a positive development, it is worth considering whether the emphasis of policy and research should be directed at addressing the resolution of the world’s longest-standing major armed conflicts.
"* Much of the current discussion of peace-building is focused on the macro level. What current operational experiences appear to illustrate, however, is that peace-building fails most often at the micro level, in the content and delivery of specific security, rule-of-law, economic, social and political reforms.
"* Nationally led ‘coalitions of the willing’ of the kind that undertook the military actions in Afghanistan (2002) and Iraq (2003) pose special challenges for parliamentary oversight, since the interstate component of decision making is not carried out through an established, transparent multilateral institutional process.
"* Military expenditure by states in the Middle East is high and shows a rising trend since 1996. Conventional arms races are unconstrained, but developments related to weapons of mass destruction are the ones that receive international attention.
"* Since the 1980s, the introduction of a more open economic model in most states of the Latin American and Caribbean region has been accompanied by the growth of new regional structures, the dying out of interstate conflicts and a reduction in intra-state conflicts.
"Military spending and armaments
"* In the new security environment, which focuses on insecurity in the South and greater global security interdependence, there is an increasing awareness of the ineffectiveness of military means for addressing threats and challenges to security and a growing recognition of the need for global action.
"* World military expenditure exceeded $1 trillion in 2004. The USA accounted for 47 per cent of this spending.
"* The combined arms sales of the top 100 arms-producing companies in 2003 were 25 per cent (in current dollars) higher than in 2002.
"* China is almost completely dependent on Russia for its arms imports, but its relationship is changing from a recipient of complete weapons to a recipient of components and technology to be used in Chinese weapon platforms. There are indications that China is anxious to gain access to other than Russian technology, partly because that technology is becoming outdated.
"Non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament"* In April 2004 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1540, an instruction to UN member states that they must legislate nationally to introduce effective controls on nuclear, biological and chemical weapon proliferation-sensitive items. The resolution was adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, leaving open the potential use of enforcement measures by the Security Council against states failing to comply with this instruction.
"* The controversies over the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programmes led to renewed interest in proposals for limiting civil uranium-enrichment and plutonium-reprocessing capabilities on a worldwide basis.
"* The controversies over the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programmes led to renewed interest in proposals for limiting civil uranium-enrichment and plutonium-reprocessing capabilities on a worldwide basis.
"* A number of official inquiries into the handling of intelligence concerning Iraq’s weapon programmes, including how it had been interpreted or presented, published reports in 2004. The inquiries found a common theme that pre-war assessments were inaccurate and unsupported by the available evidence.
"* Since Libya’s policy change it has become clear that it received considerable foreign assistance to procure sensitive nuclear materials, technologies and components as well as documentation related to nuclear weapon design. However, the relatively low technical absorption capacity of its scientific–industrial base meant that these 'short cuts' did not bring Libya appreciably closer to achieving a nuclear weapon capability.
"* The NATO–Russia stalemate over the adapted CFE Treaty has lasted for over five years, but the second wave of NATO enlargement was accomplished despite Russia’s concerns. In Europe, the focus has shifted towards ‘soft’ measures and arrangements, such as confidence- and security-building measures for stricter control of small arms, surplus ammunition and landmines.
"* International non-proliferation and disarmament assistance (INDA) is becoming a significant element of the wider anti-proliferation effort. To increase the effectiveness of this assistance, the efforts made by the G8 group of industrialized states were redesigned in 2004. Traditionally undertaken as a bilateral effort between the USA and Russia, the functional and geographic scope of INDA programmes is expected to expand in future to include projects in a wider range of countries, cover new types of sensitive material and undertake projects in new countries.
"* In 2004 the EU reviewed the instruments that have been used to create an effective and modern system for controlling transfers of both conventional weapons and dual-use items. As a result of these reviews. revisions will be made to both the arms and dual-use export control systems of the EU.
"* Over the years, the law of the sea has been adapted to changed priorities. Today, the general rule of flag-state jurisdiction has yielded to the universal interest of combating the slave trade, piracy and drug trafficking. In future, the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction may also be added to this list."
NOTE:
The complete report and other information is available online at
http://yearbook2005.sipri.org/
and can be ordered directly through
http://first.sipri.org/non_first/book_order.php
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