Peace Like A River

• Changes

  I have a change to tell you about, gentle readers. I've decided to step away from Peace Like A River, put the old blog out to pasture, and do my blogging full-time at Security Watchtower. Here's the URL: Security Watchtower: http://www.securitywatchtower.com/ C.S. Scott, of SWT, is the person I do the Monday briefings [...]
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  Posted: July 25, 2006, 2:23pm EDT
  by Jeff

• Iran's Central Asian tour

  Iran's president Mahmud Ahmadinejad is visiting some Central Asian countries this week. Turkmenistan Mohammad Reza Djalili, a professor of international politics at the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies, says Ashgabat and Tehran have enjoyed good relations since Turkmenistan emerged from the collapsed Soviet empire a decade and a half ago. "There [...]
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  Posted: July 25, 2006, 9:48am EDT
  by Jeff

• In Search Of... XV

  It's time for another installment of In Search Of... These are some of the more amusing web searches that have stumbled across my blog. (The previous installment is here.) -backyard torture room -different guestbook of peoples in the usa village 2007 -2006 demark citizens email guestbook with age 38 above -her bladder beer -free b [...]
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  Posted: July 25, 2006, 9:46am EDT
  by Jeff

• Monday Winds of War Briefing

  Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Friday. Monday's Winds of War briefings are given by Security Watchtower and Peace Like [...]
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  Posted: July 24, 2006, 8:42am EDT
  by Jeff

• Somalia: slip sliding away

  On Saturday, Islamic militias and government forces clashed for the first time, a worrisome step in a situation that has the potential to get worse. Government militia seized and set on fire two "technicals" -- heavily armed pickup trucks that are Somalia's version of tanks -- in fighting in the remote [...]
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  Posted: July 22, 2006, 7:17pm EDT
  by Jeff

• The stalwart Democrats

  On Thursday the House voted 410-8 to agree to the resolution in support of Israel. One Republican (Paul) voted No. Seven Democrats (Abercrombie, Conyers, Dingell, Kilpatrick (MI), McDermott, Rahall, Stark) voted No. Also, four Democrats (Kaptur, Kucinich, Lee, Waters) voted Present. As Forbes points out, it was a remarkable display of [...]
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  Posted: July 21, 2006, 12:54pm EDT
  by Jeff

• India to put pressure on Pakistan

  This comes in the wake of the train bombings in Bombay, which India believes was tied to support, in some fashion, to Pakistan. From the Daily Times: After declaring a tough stance against Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai serial blasts, the Indian establishment is now in a dilemma over what [...]
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  Posted: July 20, 2006, 2:15pm EDT
  by Jeff

• Pop quiz

  Whether or not it's true, who says such things? Our friends or enemies? See if you can guess the correct answer. From Reuters: Iran's Hizbollah, which claims links to the Lebanese group of the same name, said on Tuesday it stood ready to attack Israeli and U.S. interests worldwide. "We have 2,000 volunteers [...]
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  Posted: July 20, 2006, 2:12pm EDT
  by Jeff

• Russia, Japan and the East Siberia pipeline

  MosNews reported yesterday that Russia and Japan had come to an agreement over the building of the East Siberia-Pacific oil pipeline. Japan will help fund the construction. Russia and Japan agreed on the project to build the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline, the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said at a [...]
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  Posted: July 19, 2006, 2:24pm EDT
  by Jeff

• Britain: The BLA is a terrorist organization

  In Britain, the Home Secretary has added the Balochistan Liberation Army to the list of banned organizations under new anti-terrorism laws. From The Times: Two Islamist militant groups were banned by the Government yesterday. However, ministers failed to proscribe Hizb-ut-Tahrir despite a promise by Tony Blair a year ago. Al-Ghurabaa and the [...]
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  Posted: July 18, 2006, 12:18pm EDT
  by Jeff

• Murky Balochistan

  Over the weekend there was this report from Balochistan: Some 600 rebel tribesmen have surrendered to the authorities in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan, a government spokesman said on Sunday. The fighters, led by three commanders, agreed to lay down their weapons at a parley with Baluchistan's Home Minister Shoaib Nausherwani in [...]
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  Posted: July 17, 2006, 3:46pm EDT
  by Jeff

• Monday Winds of War Briefing

  Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Friday. Monday's Winds of War briefings are given by Security Watchtower and Peace Like [...]
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  Posted: July 17, 2006, 8:32am EDT
  by Jeff

• What's next

  Stratfor accurately states that the current operations ongoing in Lebanon are designed to prepare the environment for ground forces. However, the danger lurking is Syria. If Israel cannot prevent Syria from providing supplies and support to Hezbollah through the Syrian frontier, Israel will probably not accomplish its security goals. The Israeli [...]
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  Posted: July 16, 2006, 3:18pm EDT
  by Jeff

• No surprise

  The Jerusalem Post has reported that the guided missile which struck an Israeli ship was fired with the assistance of Iranian Revolutionary Guards. As of Saturday night, one body had been recovered and identified and three were still missing after elite Iranian troops assisted Hizbullah in firing a radar-guided missile at [...]
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  Posted: July 15, 2006, 10:19pm EDT
  by Jeff

• In Search Of... XIV

  It's time for another installment of In Search Of... These are some of the more amusing web searches that have stumbled across my blog. (The previous installment is here.) -can i kick my teenager out? -somalian teenager discussed what would be like go backing their country -putin summit july 2006 st petersburg weather [...]
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  Posted: July 14, 2006, 4:43pm EDT
  by Jeff

• US to stay in Kyrgyzstan

  The United States and Kyrgyzstan have reached an agreement over rent for the air base the US currently uses in Kyrgyzstan. The president of Kyrgyzstan had previously made noises that he would ask for $200 million from the US, a ten-fold increase. Well, the US got a bargain, only $150 [...]
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  Posted: July 14, 2006, 11:37am EDT
  by Jeff

• A road to war, not a leap

  Israel finds itself in a widening conflict, and at these early stages it is difficult to predict when and where it will end. Hamas has provoked Israel from Gaza, and Hezbollah is attacking Israel from Lebanon. It's always useful to keep in mind the following equation: Hezbollah = Iran. Hezbollah was [...]
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  Posted: July 13, 2006, 2:05pm EDT
  by Jeff

• Transdniester to hold referendum on independence

  From REGNUM: On Wednesday, July 12, the Supreme Council of the Transdnestr Moldavian Republic has passed a resolution that defines wording of questions to a republican referendum concerning relations with the Russian Federation and the Republic of Moldova. As a REGNUM correspondent is told in the press office of the Transdnestr [...]
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  Posted: July 13, 2006, 11:56am EDT
  by Jeff

• Turning on the spigot

  From RFE/RL: July 13 marks the official inauguration of the $4 billion Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline at the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The pipeline -- which pumps Caspian Sea oil to the Turkish Mediterranean, bypassing Russia and Iran -- should supply 1 million barrels per day by 2009. One of the pipeline's [...]
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  Posted: July 13, 2006, 11:54am EDT
  by Jeff

• Some background to the Mumbai bombings

  Here are some links to some good reading on India, the terrorist threat it faces daily, and past acts. B.Raman of the South Asia Analysis Group has a paper listing 21 points of consideration in trying fit the Bombay attacks into context. For example, 8. This is the second instance of multiple [...]
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  Posted: July 12, 2006, 1:48pm EDT
  by Jeff

• Was RDX used in the Bombay terrorist attacks?

  From this report from The Hindu News: Duggal said 183 people were killed and 714 were injured. Of the dead, 123 bodies had been identified, he said. However, police officials in Mumbai put the death toll at 190. Officials at the Sion, Cooper and KEM Hospitals said over 40 of the [...]
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  Posted: July 12, 2006, 10:55am EDT
  by Jeff

• The politics of pipelines

  Writing in the Washington Post, Steven Mufson has an excellent summary of the issues surrounding Russia and the way it uses its energy resources as a tool of foreign policy. You'll recognize some themes I touch on from time to time here, and other things I don't often get to. [...]
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  Posted: July 11, 2006, 4:51pm EDT
  by Jeff

• Terror in India

  Here in the US I don't think we are nearly mindful enough of what India faces on a day to day basis. There is violence daily in India or Kashmir, involving terrorists, Maoists, or other radicals. Today there is news of a serious terrorist attack in Bombay (Mumbai). Seven explosions hit Bombay's [...]
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  Posted: July 11, 2006, 10:40am EDT
  by Jeff

• The NYTimes, a friend of America from way back

  I'm reading Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden. It's a riveting book about the Iranian hostage crisis that began in November 1979. The book also covers the failed rescue mission. I came across this passage on page 246. It seemed relevant, given the NY Times's near seditious acts lately. A student [...]
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  Posted: July 10, 2006, 8:43pm EDT
  by Jeff

• Unrest in Dagestan

  MosNews reports the following from Dagestan: Head of the Dagestani Interior Ministry’s Khasavyurt district organized crime department Saigidsalim Zabitov and road police inspector Shamsudi Kachakayev were killed in an attack early Wednesday morning, Interfax reported. “A car carrying Zabitov came under fire at the intersection of Nekrasov and Pobedy Streets at [...]
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  Posted: June 21, 2006, 11:54am EDT
  by Jeff