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Gaza Strip

A View To A Kill

Why Israel Is Likely Preparing Future Fatah Battlespace Against Hamas in Gaza

By Steve Schippert
The primary immediate aim of the Israeli offensive on Hamas in the Gaza Strip is to halt, or more realistically, to reduce the rate of rocket attacks on the Israeli population. Hamas is the key terrorist agitator, thou certainly not the only one within Gaza, especially since seizing control of Gaza following its bloody purge of Fatah, and with it Palestinian Authority governance. Since that time, Hamas has bargained its way away from moderation and squarely into the Iranian terrorist...
Israel

Transitional Times That Undermine Israel's Deterrence Capability

How Politics Weakens Israel and Emboldens Her Enemies

By C. Hart
The current lack of strong leadership at the helm of Israel’s government is being perceived as a symbol of weakness, especially by radical Islamists, who could exploit this period of uncertainty and use it to their advantage to further advance their goals of Middle East domination. The current vacuum in Israel’s political system affords rogue states and terrorist entities a window of opportunity to consolidate and formulate new strategies of aggression. Global change and turbulence, in political and economic spheres,...
United States of America

Open Source Intelligence

A ThreatsWatch Symposium

By ThreatsWatch
Open source intelligence (OSINT) is, for lack of a universally-accepted formal definition, information of value that you don't have to steal with spies or technical means. It can be free or you might have to pay for it but the thrust is that it is not classified or otherwise restricted by a government entity. To an extent we all use OSINT every day for any decision of substance; you identify a question that needs to be answered, you gather information...
Pakistan

Al-Qaeda's Progression On Pakistan's Demise

Schizophrenic Pakistan And The Coming Vacuum That Invites al-Qaeda

By Steve Schippert
The slow-motion insurgency in Pakistan is picking up pace in short order, and the elected Pakistani government shows no signs of stopping its rapid descent into disorder, fracture and weakness. What was once the Pakistani tinderbox has become a blaze, and Al-Qaeda is feeding the flames. And while all is not lost, there is little to instill confidence that the blaze will recede and avoid an inferno. Identity Crisis And Live Rounds In June, the United States bombed a Pakistan...

January 6, 2009

1. Urban warfare continues in Gaza, with Gaza City surrounded and sealed as Hamas and IDF soldiers attempt to lure each other into more vulnerable positions. International press for ceasefire continues without progress.

2. Iran says it has recruited 70,000 volunteer suicide bombers for its much-publicized shahid brigades, and claims it has had to restrain them from trekking to Gaza to kill Israeli soldiers.

3. As Ethiopia prepares for withdrawal from Somalia, feuding Islamists - including two embattled ICU leaders - mend fences, eying the weakness of an unprotected Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

4. After India handed evidence of Pakistani ties to Mumbai attacks, Pakistan's PM says "credible" evidence is required.

More details available here.

January 5, 2009

Someone Please Explain . . .

. . . what "a cease-fire that would not allow a re-establishment of the status quo ante, where Hamas can continue to launch rockets out of Gaza" looks like, exactly. Rice said the United States is continuing a diplomatic drive...

Forget Hamas In Nurse Skirts, Night Scoped Snipers

The notable quotable in a recent article from the Jerusalem Post was regarding the imagery of Hamas terrorists disguised as nurses in a Gaza hospital. Sure, an amusing detail if one envisions female nurses in skirts. But pay closer attention...

ThreatsWatch on with Hugh Hewitt Tonight: Gaza and Hamas

I will be talking Gaza and Hamas with Hugh Hewitt in the first segment of his radio show today, tentatively scheduled for 6:10 PM (EST). Readers online can go to AM 970 The Apple (New York City affiliate) and simply...

December 30, 2008

The "Z" is NOT for Zorro

The gruesome violence will not stop with the tolling of the New Year's bells, nor will it stop at the U.S. border. Many have written about the nexus of crime and terrorism; the fact is that drug crime and terrorism,...

December 28, 2008

How Insightful

Our Uncle flogs an expired equine: The terrorism threat to the United States over the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security and increasing Internet savvy, says a...

  • AudioSeptember 21, 2008
    [Listen Here]
    The Taliban-al-Qaeda alliance inside Pakistan has bombed the five-star Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, completely destroying the structure in the massive blast and the fires that ensued after. It is an al-Qaeda strike back at the United States and the CIA...

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