"The bottom line After an initial period of halting growth, the SCO has emerged as an alliance serving as an effective vehicle for Beijing's and Moscow's geopolitical aims.
Look for the alliance to continue to further the interests of the Moscow-Beijing axis as long as those two power centers are careful to maintain their accord and the regimes in Central Asia depend on the axis for political support. As the SCO grows in strength, Washington's influence in Central Asia will diminish. "
British authorities now have evidence indicating the explosives used in the terrorist attack on London were not primitive, as originally thought. Rather, the devices appear to be sophisticated military-type explosives probably smuggled into Britain. Speculation is growing that while the bombs were from outside, the bombers themselves may have been "home grown" British citizens. A number of homes were raided today in Yorkshire in connection with the investigation.
The investigative "facts" are important, of course, and we wish Scotland Yard well as it tries to determine the identities of the exact individual thugs who murdered over 50 Brits. But while the police are doing their work, Britain's political leadership needs to explain the bigger picture.
On September 11th America was not attacked by only the 19 men who carried out the carnage. They were merely the "foot soldiers" of a murderous philosophy that is incubating within Islam. Men of good will can and do argue about whether this death-loving philosophy represents 0.5% of Islam or 5%, 10% or more. We know from its indiscriminate murderous acts that it is willing to kill its co-religionists if it suits its terror purposes or if they aren't "Muslim enough" to satisfy the demands of bin Laden and his ilk.
This philosophy, which I regularly refer to as Islamofascism, receives much of its funding and its theological inspiration from Saudi Arabia. It controls large numbers of mosques throughout the Middle East, Africa and across countries like Pakistan and Indonesia, but its tentacles also reach into London, Bonn, Rome and yes - the suburbs of Washington, D.C. and other U.S. cities. Its adherents want the whole world to be under Islamic law. It believes Christians and Jews are "pigs and apes" and that it is acceptable, indeed obligatory, to kill us all! Without a doubt its followers are working right now to bring to all free men sorrows greater than anything we have yet experienced.
In Israel this culture of death has led to countless homicide bombings carried out by Palestinian jihadists against Israeli civilians. Much to its shame, most of the political leadership throughout Western Europe barely wagged a finger at these murderers while constantly demanding that Israel make concessions to solve the "Palestinian problem." Serious leaders of the West have deluded themselves into thinking that if only there was a Palestinian state the attacks would end. But, the Islamofascists are clear about their goal - no Israel, indeed no Jew, can be tolerated in the Middle East or ultimately in the world. As for the rest of us - we are to live under Sharia law or not live at all.
Now this evil has come home to roost - in Madrid and London. Surely this is not the end. Rather it is what Churchill referred to as "the first taste" of a bitter cup that we will all be asked to drink from again and again until we find the resolve to win this war.
Again, Winston Churchill said it best in his first speech as prime minister before the House of Commons on May 13, 1940:
"You ask, What is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us….This is our policy. You ask, What is our aim? I can answer with one word: Victory - victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."
"As many as 40 possible terrorists may have attempted to infiltrate U.S. intelligence agencies in recent months, CIA expert Barry Royden reported at a national counterintelligence conference in March. If that news isn't sufficiently terrifying, consider this chilling paradox: Though the agencies caught the potential spies at the job application stage, post-Sept. 11 pressures to quickly boost staffing make it increasingly likely that a terrorist could sneak into the intelligence community's ranks.
Since Al Qaeda's attacks on New York and Washington four years ago, the Sept. 11 commission and other investigative bodies have criticized intelligence agencies for failing to hire enough qualified personnel. President Bush ordered the CIA to increase analytic and operational personnel by 50%.
In response, intelligence agencies have launched ambitious campaigns to attract new recruits, even enlisting advertising agencies and running glitzy commercials. But this scramble to hire leaves agencies vulnerable, as a woefully small number of security analysts attempt to vet the flood of applicants. Job seekers with the native language skills and overseas experience that much intelligence work requires are among the most difficult to screen for security."
"I don't believe that Canadians are as psychologically prepared for a terrorist attack as probably we all should be," Ms. McLellan said. "I think we have, perhaps for too long, thought that these are things that happen somewhere else."
But Canada is "not immune from what we've seen happen in London, Madrid and 9/11." ........
Despite such fears, federal and provincial ministers hadn't sat down to discuss wide-scale emergency planning for more than a decade, until earlier this year.
"Don't you think that's rather shocking?" Ms. McLellan said in a speech to the conference yesterday. "I was stunned by that........."
If Canada were attacked by a blizzard of paperwork, we'd excel. When it comes to security there is a lot to be desired.Canadians need less talk and more action.
On emergency preparedness, funds were not allocated based on an assessment of risks. Equipment purchased for first responders in different cities was not required to be interoperable, thus missing an opportunity to create a national pool of compatible equipment. Training for first responders is progressing very slowly—fewer than 200 of the needed 6,000 intermediate-level first responders have been trained.
"I don't have to "know" any much less all the tenets of Hinduism to respect those who practice it. I don't have to know anything about anyone to recognize that we all march to the beats of different inner drummers and that the true diversity of the human race is revealed on every face and in every heart.
Those demanding tolerance would do better to learn to embrace it; tolerance isn't a two-way street but an eight-lane highway and those who fail to follow the rules of the road shouldn't complain when they are involved in a fatal collision.
I don't care what religion or creed motivates someone who is trying to kill me; if I get the chance I'll take them out first and if I die in the attempt then so be it. I call that sanity."
