International Affairs: January 2007 Archives

In an impressive display of effectiveness, British intelligence and law enforcement agencies have thwarted yet another terror attack on UK soil.

A ninth suspect has been arrested by police investigating an alleged Iraq-style kidnapping and beheading plot in the UK. ...

The target was a British Muslim soldier in his twenties who is now under police protection.

The soldier, who has not been named, has served with UK forces in Afghanistan.

His abduction would have mirrored the kidnappings of the British hostages Ken Bigley and Margaret Hassan by Iraqi insurgents.

The suspects - believed to be of Pakistani origin - were detained under the Terrorism Act after a six-month surveillance operation.

It's not surprising that the UK seems particularly targeted for terror, since there are so many Islamofascists in their midst.

The poll [of British Muslims] conducted on December 4-13 by Populus for the Policy Exchange, an independent think tank, found that 37 percent of the 16-24 age groups would prefer Sharia law, compared to 17 percent of those over 55. There was a nearly identical split between age groups on those who would prefer to send their children to Islamic schools supported by the state.

Thirteen percent of the younger group expressed admiration for organisations such as Al Qaeda that “are prepared to fight the West,” compared to three percent of those over 55.

Munira Mirza, the lead author of the report, attributed the difference to government policies. “The emergence of a strong Muslim identity in Britain is, in part, a result of multicultural policies implemented since the 1980s which have emphasised difference at the expense of shared national identity and divided people along ethnic, religious and cultural lines,” she wrote.

It appears that most British Muslims are still non-Wahhabi-ized, but the total percentage will only increase as the elders die off and the young, radical Muslims come into their own.

Not being hugely confident in President Bush's plan to "surge" troops into Iraq for a short period of time, I'm surprised to read that terrorist leaders are already fleeing to Iran ahead of the news... despite talking tough just days ago.

DEATH SQUAD leaders have fled Baghdad to evade capture or killing by American and Iraqi forces before the start of the troop “surge” and security crackdown in the capital.

A former senior Iraqi minister said most of the leaders loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical anti-American cleric, had gone into hiding in Iran.

Of course every turn of events must be portrayed as a setback for America and President Bush.

The flight from Baghdad could impede American plans to target the leaders of death squads. An extra 17,000 US troops are being sent to Baghdad as part of the surge in forces promised by President George W Bush.

No problem, we don't mind going to Iran to get them.

Here's a cool map of the various American states labeled with the names of countries with approximately the same sized economies. Missouri is about the same as Poland, opening the door for all sorts of great jokes.

Following up my earlier post about the sale of Sealand, it looks like the "island" "nation" is being bought by The Pirate Bay bittorrent site.

The Pirate Bay says it is the world's largest 'bit torrent tracker', and is a popular way of sharing music, films, software and other copyrighted material online. It has been under the scrutiny of authorities in Sweden and around the world for some time.

The site was briefly closed down after raids by the Swedish police last May. After initially moving to the Netherlands, the site returned to Sweden in June. Swedish authorities have been put under pressure to do more to stop the site. The Motion Picture Association of America, the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau and the US government have all lobbied for The Pirate Bay's closure.

According to a website set up to secure the purchase of Sealand, The Pirate Bay plans to give citizenship of the micronation to anyone willing to put money towards the purchase.

If the "nation" gets involved in these likely-illegal activities, the British Navy might take more serious notice of it. 

I never read Terry Brooks' Shannara series, but I quite enjoyed his 1987 novel "Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold!" in which a disgruntled lawyer purchased a magic kingdom after reading a listing in the classifieds. The offered sale of the Principality of Sealand (a.k.a. Roughs Tower) won't be quite so adventurous, but it still evokes a little marvel.

A FORMER World War II fort in the North Sea, which was settled 40 years ago and declared a state with its own self-proclaimed royal family, is up for sale.

The tiny Principality of Sealand, which began life as Roughs Tower in 1941, is a 550 sq m steel platform perched on two concrete towers 11km off the coast of Harwich, eastern England.

It is accessible only by helicopter and boat but according to its owners, who want offers of eight digits or over, boasts uninterrupted sea views, guarantees complete privacy and is a tax haven.

Strange, for sure, and there probably aren't any wizards or dragons. Still, Sealand has an eventful history.

Roughs Tower, also known as HM Fort Roughs, is one of several World War II installations that were designed by Guy Maunsell and known collectively as His Majesty's Forts or the Maunsell Sea Forts. It is not an island, but a man-made structure, similar to an oil rig. The purpose of HM Fort Roughs was to guard the port of Harwich, Essex. It was constructed in the United Kingdom, towed into position and deliberately sunk at 51°53′40″N, 1°28′57″E on Rough Sands - a sandbar located approximately six miles from the coast of Suffolk and eight miles from the coast of Essex, England.

In October 1965 Roy Bates gained control of HM Fort John Knox after winning a physical fight over squatters representing the offshore station called Radio City. He wished to use it for radio broadcasting to the UK mainland.

Roy Bates decided to move his radio equipment from HM Fort John Knox to HM Fort Roughs after he was found guilty in the UK of illegal broadcasting from HM Fort John Knox. However, HM Fort Roughs was occupied by staff representing Ronan O'Rahilly who represented the two Radio Caroline ships which formed a British network. Physical fighting to gain control of HM Fort Roughs lasted until September 1967. Roy Bates and his associates finally physically expelled the existing squatters representing Radio Caroline, and on September 2 1967, he claimed it as his own.

The top story also claims that Bates defended Sealand from the British Navy in 1968!

(HT: Digg.)

The Independent is whining about potential terms for Iraqi oil development while handily ignoring inconvenient facts.

Iraq's massive oil reserves, the third-largest in the world, are about to be thrown open for large-scale exploitation by Western oil companies under a controversial law which is expected to come before the Iraqi parliament within days. ...

Oil industry executives and analysts say the law, which would permit Western companies to pocket up to three-quarters of profits in the early years, is the only way to get Iraq's oil industry back on its feet after years of sanctions, war and loss of expertise. But it will operate through "production-sharing agreements" (or PSAs) which are highly unusual in the Middle East, where the oil industry in Saudi Arabia and Iran, the world's two largest producers, is state controlled.

The fact of the matter is that there are no major non-Western oil companies that aren't state controlled. If you object to "Western" companies profiting, then who would you suggest should develop Iraq's oil? Saudi Arabia or Iran? China?

Furthermore, even state-controlled oil companies in the Middle East are only so financially... all the expertise comes from foreigners.

Supporters say the provision allowing oil companies to take up to 75 per cent of the profits will last until they have recouped initial drilling costs. After that, they would collect about 20 per cent of all profits, according to industry sources in Iraq. But that is twice the industry average for such deals.

When there's a lot of risk and not much profit to be had, even seemingly large percentages might not add up to many real dollars.

Greg Muttitt, a researcher for Platform, a human rights and environmental group which monitors the oil industry, said Iraq was being asked to pay an enormous price over the next 30 years for its present instability. "They would lose out massively," he said, "because they don't have the capacity at the moment to strike a good deal."

Well, that's the free market for you. Any different arrangement forced on oil companies at gunpoint would be a disservice to Iraq. The current instability is the fault of the people of Iraq and it has a definite cost to everyone, them included.

As of last night we're effectively at war with Mexico, and it looks like we lost the first battle.

A U.S. Border Patrol entry Identification Team site was overrun Wednesday night along Arizona's border with Mexico.

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region around 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat.

The Border Patrol will not say whether shots were fired.

Which means shots were fired. I don't mean to sound hysterical, but what is it besides war when armed soldiers, regular or irregular, cross our border and attack our military positions?

The Border patrol says the attackers quickly retreated back into Mexico.

The National Guard troops should be authorized to follow armed invaders back into Mexico and kill them. This sort of attack and retreat incursion is nothing less than a military probe of our capability and will. If such probes are met with weakness, expect further escalation.

Aside from Europe's escalating problem with Islamists, it's growing harder and to even consider the various EUocratic states to be democracies in any real sense of the word.

By contrast, Tim Hames, of the London Times, supported toppling the butcher but not killing him. "Mainstream middle-class sentiment in Europe," he wrote, "now regards the death penalty as being as ethically tainted as the crimes that produced the sentence."

"Mainstream middle-class sentiment" translates into English as: "People I meet at dinner parties."

According to a poll published in Le Monde, the majority of Spaniards, Germans, French and British were all in favor of executing Saddam.

Indeed, Mr. Hames' fellow Britons aren't that far behind the Neanderthal Yanks in their enthusiasm for a good ol' ethically-tainted hanging: 69% of respondents in the United Kingdom supported the death penalty for the dictator versus 82% in America. Mr. Hames apparently defines "mainstream" opinion as the position held by under a third of his countrymen, not the 70% extremist fringe.

Despite those numbers expressing the rather strong wills of the peoples, none of those countries have capital punishment.