Just a Simple Bomb

So what can a mere single one-megaton nuclear bomb do to a country? Well, it's indeed spine-chilling to think that an area of 10-miles radius would be devastated. In other words, from Piasau to our Miri City Centre-aye, that round-about with some plants and hornbill statures- and all the way to our airport, surrounding Senadin and outwards offshore will be hit.

Here are the other effects of such a device... Let me tell you the results are really ugly as hell.

* People can be killed by blast, heat or intense nuclear radiation from the initial explosion, by fires, or by radiation dose accumulated from radio-active fall-out dust over the next few weeks;

* The spread of radioactive fall-out is unpredicable but it is likely to kill more people than the combined effects of blast and fire;

* Radiation damages cells in the body, reduces the ability to fight infection and may lead to a lingering death. It also causes genetic damage and cancers which become apparent only in the long term;

* Many people will die of thirst due to the disruption of the water distribution and supply network;

* The food supply will be inadequate and worsen as time goes on. Those surviving the blast, fire and radiation may starve to death;

* Medical care will be hopelessly inadequate, leaving people to die a painfully lingering death from blast injuries, burns or radiation sickness;

* Owing to the breakdown of public hygiene, epidemics may spread through the surviving population;

* Cold will kill many people as they spend cold or winter days without adequate shelter;

* There would be a loss in civil liberties as some form of law and order has to be maintained;

* Delayed fall-out can be carried round the globe far from the war zone and

* The ozone layer in the atmosphere could be destroyed by a large-scale nuclear conflict so that ultr-violet radiation from the sun could kill many forms of life.

By the way, the above is a summary of what the experts believe will happen in a nuclear strike. There may be more info on the consequences on the net of playing with a toy like the nuclear bomb!

Is it too late?

This is really HOT news! The United States is attempting to change the course of military history that would likely have been a repetition of the blunders in the Vietnam War. The jury is out whether the outgoing politically lameduck cowboy leader of the Free World, President George Bush will succeed at this precarious time when a new Hitler- wannabbe arrogant Persian leader and his threatening entity in the Middle East through clandestine Vietnam-era military strategies and tactics threaten the foundation of democracy and human civilization in the world.

U.S. Announces Sanctions Against Iran


Oct 25, 9:33 AM (ET)

By MATTHEW LEE



WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration announced sweeping new sanctions against Iran Thursday - the harshest since the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in 1979 - charging anew that Tehran supports terrorism in the Middle East, exports missiles and is engaging in a nuclear build up.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, joined at a State Department news conference by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, said the steps the Bush administration is taking against the Revolutionary Guard Corps and a number of banks are designed, among other things, to punish Tehran for its support of terrorist organizations in Iraq and the Middle East.

Rice said the moves were in response to "a comprehensive policy to confront the threatening behavior of the Iranians" although she also said that Washington remains open to "a diplomatic solution."

But Rice quickly added: "Unfortunately the Iranian government continues to spurn our offer of open negotiations, instead threatening peace and security by pursuing nuclear technologies that can lead to a nuclear weapon, building dangerous ballistic missiles, supporting Shia militants in Iraq and terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, and denying the existence of a fellow member of the United Nations, threatening to wipe Israeli off the map."

The announcement culminated a monthslong series of harsh statements from both sides amid public recriminations both within the administration and the Congress over Tehran's strategic intentions.

The United States has long labeled Iran as a state supporter of terrorism and has been working for years to gain support for tougher sanctions from the international community aimed at keeping the country from developing nuclear weapons.

The sanctions will cut off more than 20 Iranian entities, including individuals and companies owned or controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, from the American financial system and will likely have ripple effects throughout the international banking community.

The Quds Force, a part of the Guard Corps that Washington accuses of provided weapons, including powerful bombmaking materiel blamed for the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and other banks will be identified as "specially designated global terrorist" groups for their activities in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East, the officials said.

Rice said the new sanctions will "provide a powerful deterrent" for companies in the United States and abroad to sever business relationships with Iran.

Paulson said that Iran channels millions of dollars a year to help bankroll terrorist acts.

"It is increasingly likely that if you are doing business with Iran you are doing business with the IRGC," Paulson said, referring to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The sanctions also cover three Iran state-owned banks, including Bank Melli.

The actions mean that any assets found in the United States belonging to the designated groups must be frozen. Americans are also forbidden from doing business with them.

Importantly, the designations also put companies outside the United States on notice that doing business with the designated groups could be problematic.

Paulson said it is nearly impossible for overseas businesses or banks to "know one's customer" in Iran and avoid unwittingly funding terrorism or other illicit activities.

Because of the IRGC's broad reach into business and other spheres, "it is increasingly likely that if you are doing business with Iran you are doing business with the IRGC," Paulson said.

"It's simply not worth the risk."

Rice had told a House committee Wednesday that the administration shares Congress' goal of making sanctions tougher on Iran. She also declared that activities in Iraq by the Quds Force "are inconsistent with the Iranian government's obligations and stated commitment to support the Iraqi government."

Iran's defense ministry and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were designated proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile technology, while several banks will be hit with sanctions for their role in supporting terrorist financing.

The United States hopes the measures would ratchet up pressure on Iran to negotiate.

The sanctions would be unilateral, however, and are believed to be the first of their type taken by the United States specifically against the armed forces of another government.

The sanctions reportedly will empower the United States to financially isolate a large part of Iran's military and anyone inside or outside Iran who does business with it.

Such steps could impact any number of foreign companies by pressuring them to stop doing business with the Revolutionary Guards or risk U.S. sanctions.

The Revolutionary Guards, formed to safeguard Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, has pushed well beyond its military roots, and now owns car factories and construction firms and operates newspaper groups and oil fields.

Current and former members now hold a growing role across the country's government and economy, sometimes openly and other times in shadow.

The guards have gained a particularly big role in the country's oil and gas industry in recent years, as the national oil company has signed several contracts with a guards-operated construction company. Some have been announced publicly, including a $2 billion deal in 2006 to develop part of the important Pars gas field.

Now numbering about 125,000 members, they report directly to the supreme leader and officially handle internal security. The small Quds Force wing is thought to operate overseas, having helped to create the militant Hezbollah group in 1982 in Lebanon and to arm Bosnian Muslims during the Balkan wars.

The administration accuses the Quds Force of sending fighters and deadly roadside bombs, mortars and rockets to kill American troops in Iraq in recent years - allegations that Iran denies.

The United States pressures U.S. and European banks to do no business with Iranian banks, such as Bank Sedarat that the Bush administration believes help finance guards' business operations. But the United States has been known for some time to also be considering naming the entire group as a foreign terrorist organization, allowing wider financial crackdowns.

---

AP Diplomatic Correspondent Anne Gearan and Associated Press Writer Jeannine Aversa contributed to this story.

My Next Thesis?

Here's an eye-popping article which I found in cyberspace and wish to share here as it is what any prophet of doom will predict is the unfolding tragedy that will befall humankind.

It's about those suicidal bogey folks in the world's most dangerous outfit known as Al-Qaeda and their nuclear ambitions.

I've got to tell you this juicy secret: I have a pretty good thesis in mind about the terrorist nuclear threat. Well, what would you find in it? For a glimpse of it, I would like to quote a lot from that famous bard William Shakespeare with such memorable classic lines as "And all the world's a stage. They have their exits and their entrances: And one man in his time play many parts". Aye, this would be an academic intellectual discourse into modern day political reality laden with underlying implications which would reach the bold conclusion that it is a matter of not the possession method but the timing when the gloomiest prophecy of all time will be fulfilled.

The good news is, you won't read about this thesis, a gloomy script of doom that is fit for a Hollywood movie block-buster simply because this is a nation that has yet to open its mind to those who think out of the box. I might as well have a swell time at Malaysia's only gambling casino around in the Genting Highlands' resort.

Well, how about a book? It's too bloody expensive to publish it ourselves and who dares to publish an unknown writer's piece of fictitious work?

I did hear about certain publications offering payment for articles overseas but to be honest about it, there are too many scams out there! Besides, there's a lot of hue and cry and a siege mentality in many democracies in the West today because of Al-Qaeda. Touching on this sensitive topic in a non-academic environment would certainly ruffle many feathers, and the next thing we know is that we're on the special Guantanamo Camp list, if not that notorious terrorist's death list!

By the way, if you're a movie-buff like me and wish to see the words of the bard in technicolour action on your cinema screens, enjoy the old movie classic, Imperium: Augustus, starring Peter O'Toole as Augustus and Charlotte Rampling as his cunning wife. I saw it recently. In true Hollywood finesse, towards the end, Augustus lies on his deathbed; just before the ancient customary death mask is placed over his face, he calls for an applause from those who are gathered around him, poising the classic line, "Did I play my part well?". What A brilliant line in a movie for a great emperor and the late actor himself! Don't we play our roles in everyday life?

Here is the article that is most interesting:

Portents of A Nuclear Al-Qaeda

By David Ignatius
Thursday, October 18, 2007; A25

Rolf Mowatt-Larssen is paid to think about the unthinkable. As the Energy Department's director of intelligence, he's responsible for gathering information about the threat that a terrorist group will attack America with a nuclear weapon.

With his shock of white hair and piercing eyes, Mowatt-Larssen looks like a man who has seen a ghost. And when you listen to a version of the briefing he has been giving recently to President Bush and other top officials, you begin to understand why. He is convinced that al-Qaeda is trying to acquire a nuclear bomb that will leave the ultimate terrorist signature -- a mushroom cloud.

We've all had enough fear-mongering to last a lifetime. Indeed, we have become so frightened of terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001, that we have begun doing the terrorists' job for them by undermining the legal framework of our democracy. And truly, I wish I could dismiss Mowatt-Larssen's analysis as the work of an overwrought former CIA officer with too many years in the trenches.

But it's worth listening to his warnings -- not because they induce more numbing paralysis but because they might stir sensible people to take actions that could detect and stop an attack. That's why his boss, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, is encouraging him to speak out. Mowatt-Larssen doesn't want to anguish later that he didn't sound the alarm in time.

Mowatt-Larssen has been gathering this evidence since a few weeks after Sept. 11, when then-CIA Director George Tenet asked him to create a new branch on weapons of mass destruction in the agency's counterterrorism center. He helped Tenet prepare the chapter on al-Qaeda's nuclear efforts that appears in Tenet's memoir, " At the Center of the Storm." Now that the uproar over Tenet's mistaken "slam dunk" assessment of the Iraqi threat has died down, it's worth rereading this account. It provides a chilling, public record of al-Qaeda's nuclear ambitions.

Mowatt-Larssen argues that for nearly a decade before Sept. 11, al-Qaeda was seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction. As early as 1993, Osama bin Laden offered $1.5 million to buy uranium for a nuclear device, according to testimony presented in federal court in February 2001. When the al-Qaeda leader was asked in 1998 if he had nuclear or chemical weapons, he responded: "Acquiring weapons for the defense of Muslims is a religious duty. If I have indeed acquired these weapons, then I thank God for enabling me to do so."

Even as al-Qaeda was preparing to fly its airplane bombs into buildings, the group was also trying to acquire nuclear and biological capabilities. In August 2001, bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, met around a campfire with Pakistani scientists from a group called Umma Tameer-E-Nau to discuss how al-Qaeda could build a nuclear device. Al-Qaeda also had an aggressive anthrax program that was discovered in December 2001 after bin Laden was driven from his haven in Afghanistan.

Al-Qaeda proclaimed a religious rationale to justify the WMD attacks it was planning. In June 2002, a Kuwaiti-born cleric named Suleiman Abu Ghaith posted a statement on the Internet saying that "al-Qaeda has the right to kill 4 million Americans" in retaliation for U.S. attacks against Muslims. And in May 2003, at the same time Saudi operatives of al-Qaeda were trying to buy three Russian nuclear bombs, a cleric named Nasir al-Fahd issued a fatwa titled "A Treatise on the Legal Status of Using Weapons of Mass Destruction Against Infidels." Interrogations of al-Qaeda operatives confirmed that the planning was serious. Al-Qaeda didn't yet have the materials for a WMD attack, but it wanted them.

Most chilling of all was Zawahiri's decision in March 2003 to cancel a cyanide attack in the New York subway system. He told the plotters to stand down because "we have something better in mind." What did that mean? More than four years later, we still don't know.

After 2004, the WMD trail went cold, according to Mowatt-Larssen. Many intelligence analysts have concluded that al-Qaeda doesn't have nuclear capability today. Mowatt-Larssen argues that a more honest answer is: We don't know.

So what to do about this spectral danger? The first requirement, says Mowatt-Larssen, is to try to visualize it. What would it take for al-Qaeda to build a bomb? How would it assemble the pieces? How would the United States and its allies deploy their intelligence assets so that they could detect a plot before it was carried out? How would we reinvent intelligence itself to avert this ultimate catastrophe?

A terrorist nuclear attack, as Tenet wrote in his book, would change history. If we can see how this story might end, perhaps we can deflect the arrow before it hits its target.

The writer is co-host ofPostGlobal, an online discussion of international issues. His e-mail address isdavidignatius@washpost.com.

Unpublished Newspaper News

This interesting excerpt, taken from a counter-terrorism blog is about the late notorious Malaysian terrorist, Dr. Azahari:


"Dr. Azahari, a 48-year old Malaysian , joined JI when the group was based out of southern Malaysia in the early 1990s. He had a secular upbringing and was a university lecturer at the University of Technology of Malaya. He received his education in Adelaide, Australia, the University of Technology of Malaya and completed his PhD at the University of Reading in the UK. After joining JI, he was trained by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. He left his wife at her bedside when she was undergoing treatment for throat cancer to commit his life to the jihad in Indonesia".

As I said before, I used to have good Arab buddies overseas and I hold no grudges against any of this race. It is just that we need to know more about them as there is a growing influx of these tourists to Malaysia.

The Arab World

Rape on Arab primetime TV

Egyptian star places rape and sexual abuse on Arab world's agenda

Smadar Peri, Ynet News.

Published:

09.20.07, 16:12 /

Yousra, the queen of the silver screen in the Arab world, is not only a beauty but also a highly opinionated actress who views her status as a springboard for conveying social messages. Every year during the Ramadan fast, the peak season for TV viewing in the Arab world, Yousra pushes urgent social issues to the forefront.

This is what happened two years ago, with a reality show about a single mother's uncompromising struggle against a conservative and chauvinist society; the same goes for "The Yacoubian Building," which has its say about the polygamy prevalent in Arab high society.

The authorities have yet to decide how to deal with this new social phenomenon. A quick glance at the headlines of criminal law sections run stories from the global media (including ours,) to find solace in the fact that they are not alone.

Every such series, 30 consecutive episodes broadcasted nightly while families get together to break the fast, turns into a heated dispute. A year ago Yousra was appointed an ambassador of goodwill by UNESCO, which was a boost of encouragement for her persistence.

"A Case of Public Opinion," the latest Ramadan series, has become the talk of the town even before being aired in 22 Arab countries. Ratings are sky high; no one dares miss the show. This time the queen of the screen from Cairo chose to focus on a topic that Arab society has insisted on burying deep underground: Violent rape and sexual abuse.

The series recounts the story of three young female doctors who work in a respectable hospital in the heart of Cairo; the three are summoned in the middle of the night to treat an urgent case. As they race to the destination from a remote neighborhood, drugged thugs pounce on them from behind the shadows. They are attacked and raped, including the doctor whose pregnancy is very obvious. They weep, cut and bruised, while three knife cuts are evident on the cheek of the department head, portrayed by Yousra.

Ahead of the broadcasts, one of the human rights organizations in Egypt held a referendum among tens of thousands of women. The findings were shocking: 40 percent of respondents admitted that they had been raped and forced to remain silent. An additional 10 percent revealed that they are forced to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace. If they open their mouths, they will lose their jobs.

In a "Case of Public Opinion", the marriage of the star doctor is falling apart. Her husband insists on ignoring the facts, and the legal authorities remove the complaint against one of the rapists, the son of a senior government minister. Even the fate of her two colleagues plays against them, when the hospital director hints that "if they don't shut up, they will be fired."

The rape scene was not aired in full on Egyptian TV. The censorship left just subtle hints, arguing that the harsh images may shock young viewers. On the other hand, Dubai TV went for lock, stock and barrel; 15 minutes that left no room for imagination. As expected a dispute was immediately aroused: Was it appropriate to share the experiences of the group rape with viewers?

Shaking up traditional family structure

This is undoubtedly a "women's year" throughout the Arab world. In Saudi Arabia they are finally being allowed to drive, with the blessing of the royal family. In Morocco and Tunisia women are now permitted to file for divorce. In the oil Emirates women's organizations are calling for equal rights, and the regime is expanding employment opportunities. In Jordan murders committed in the name of "family honor" are treated harshly.

Yet throughout this entire voyage, which is shaking up the traditional family structure, the issue of sexual harassment and rape remains within the realm of a "red rag." Women who find the courage to complain are accused of "starting it" or told they "should not have been walking around alone." Also, "those who don't wear a veil are entitled to be defiled."

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Decorated with a host of international awards as well as an impressive screen, theater and TV career behind her, Yousra pledges to keep going. Female attorneys have been hired in recent days to file cases of harassment, and internet blogs reveal chilling accounts by women who have been raped.

Trust but Verify!

Here's more about our homegrown Malaysian terrorist who should enter Malaysia's Book of Records for being the first Malaysian to be detained for terrorism at Guantanamo Bay. The fact that Malaysia's state-controlled mainstream press doesn't provide details on the fellow makes me curious so here is more news about him. Too bad, there's no pic to go along with it. People may recognise him and we might be able to hear more from those who know about the mad fellow. The article is dated 24/3/07 and found in The Counter-terrorism Blog.

The Courier as a "High-Value" Detainee: More Than Meets the Eye?

By Zachary Abuza

The public case against Mohammad Farik bin Amin Zubair (ISN10021) in his Combatant Status Review Trial held in Guantanamo Bay, on 13 and 17 March, was noticeable in its Elliott Ness mentality. The public case against Zubair, a Malaysian national, is based mainly on the fact that the Malaysian national brought in $50,000 dollars from Pakistan to Thailand, which was used for the August 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriott in Jakarta, Indonesia. While he was also indicted for being part of "al Qaeda suicide team" that planned to attack a building in the United States, little information was laid out. The entire public evidence was on his role as a courier; hardly worthy of the importance the Bush administration has placed on him as one of the 14 “high-value” terrorists transferred from “black-rendition sites” to Guantanamo Bay. What’s going on?

One would hope that the private case against him will go into greater detail about the network of front companies that he helped to establish in Malaysia (and likely Cambodia and Thailand) for Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah. The Malaysian government has never shut these down though assert that they are no longer being used by terrorist suspects. Zubair laundered money through a network of Islamist nursery schools and other madrassas, including a Kuwaiti-funded charity in Cambodia. Interestingly, the indictment against him does mention that he transferred $3,100 and bomb-making instructions to a Cambodian-Muslim terrorist, who may also be tied in with one of the groups involved in the current southern Thai insurgency.

The government obviously is aware of this. They may not be raising the broader financing issues in public session for diplomatic reasons, or they may simply go for the easiest conviction they can get. It could also reflect the difficulty of going after complex terrorist financing and money laundering cases through the courts.

Unlike Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who used the chance to make a brash public statement to rally Muslims around the world, Zubair declined, only asking several procedural questions.

Naked killer Pics

So it's the eleventh hour... what have I got up my sleeves this time? Well, how about some amazing pics of a bloody blundering stupid terrorist whose attempt to go to paradise quickly failed and now he will have to enjoy the pain of goodness knows what degrees of burns .... Of course, if this moron who is believed to be a medical personnel, survives, he will enjoy many, many years behind bars for the folly of his cowardly act.

The Eleventh Hour Game...

At the eleventh hour...

a) the ill-fated courageous American firefighters were either still climbing up the stairs or rescuing some of the thousands of trapped World Trade Centre innocent civilians whose buildings had been hit by two aeroplanes cowardly hijacked by al Quaeda terrorists;

b) the sixth Global Interfaith Conference to be held in Malaysia and chaired by the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, following the September 11 attacks by Islamic terrorists were abruptly cancelled by the Malaysian government under Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi;

c) one of the most sensational murder trials in Malaysian history involving a shot Mongolian translator, Altantuya Shaariibuu and the use of extremely rare special explosives to blow her to pieces by elite special forces commandos, Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar and the alleged abatement by University of London graduate, Abdul Razak Baginda, allegedly her lover, a high profile socio-economic think tank organization founder and consultant and a prominent adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister, was abruptly postponed due to the astonishing reason that the prosecutor and the sitting judge were seen playing badminton earlier;

d) the Malaysian Prime Minister, a widower, Abdullah Badawi suddenly announced on a Wednesday he had found someone, an Eurasian convert, Jeanna Abdullah, whom he would be marrying on the coming Saturday;

e) the ex-premier, Mahathir Mohammad announced he was going away from Malaysia on the 18th June, 2007 and the whole of Malaysia trembles because the COSMIC JOKER somewhere above us loves to play jokes on Malaysia whenever this awesome mortal is not around;

f) the main Opposition party, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) called for an inquiry into allegations by a Malaysian prince, Raja Petra Kamaruddin in his hugely popular blog, Malaysia Today on the close collaboration between organized crime syndicates and the Malaysian Police, including the highest cop in the land, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP);

g) the IGP hastily called for an urgent meeting of officers resulting in them declaring their support for him in the face of allegations;

h) will anything extraordinary happen today as the sensational Altantuya murder case resumes once again on this day?

i) will anything else sensational happen in Malaysia?

A Soldier's Sad Tale...

Here's a tragic tale of a brave Malaysian soldier, Mohammad, seen in the left picture receiving his commission from the Malaysian king.. He was (and still is) a close buddy of mine and when he signed up as an officer we had known each other for over 8 years.

As buddies, I stayed in his kampung hut for a few days, sleeping on a rattan mat which was placed on the wooden floor and sharing meals with his whole family of 8... Then there were happy visits to each other's homes on various occasions such as Hari Raya and Christmas. These great memorable times ended when he enlisted in the army.

In the 1970s the communist terrorists were still a formidable fighting force and both sides suffered heavy losses in their jungle warfare, particularly in Perak.

My buddy spoke of horrific occasions of barbaric cruelty committed by both sides and the horrors of booby traps utilized by all. He led men into firefights. He had to shoot to kill.

From the calm strong eldest boy in the family, he appeared to be a mere shadow of himself whenever I visited him during his R & R days... He was gradually losing faith in humanity... and eventually, the hero left the army, settled down as a civilian and attempted to rebuild his life with little success and much difficulty ... even though a lot of us old buddies have aided him financially on a number of occasions ... So we'll keep praying for him.

Day 4: REVELATION!

Captain: Mein Gott! Wie furchbar! Das scheint nicht zu
stimmen! Space junk is everywhere around her!

Science Advisor: Sir, the monitor indicate that Earth has undergone tremendous changes ecologically: The ozone's gone; acid rain is common; the air is fully polluted and so is the sea and drinking water; oil and food is scarce; no law and order;rampaging mobs and terrorists are running amuck everywhere and these limitless tales of nightmarish horror go on like a top box office horror movie... That's it, sir. She's heading for the final countdown...to absolute destruction.