Public Intelligence Blog

India-Pakistan: Update. An Indian prosecutor in a special court in Mumbai said active duty members of the Pakistan Army and a serving major general oversaw the training of Lashkar-e-Taiba militants who carried out the deadly Mumbai attacks in November 2008, Press Trust of India reported 9 March. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said in his final arguments that it could be inferred that the attack was state-sponsored.

The Hindu account is sharper. “The November 26 attack was not an ordinary attack by 10 indoctrinated terrorists. It was well orchestrated, meticulously planned and [reflected] a deep-seated hatred for our country. It was a classic case of sponsored terrorism. Evidence by the prosecution has successfully established that the attack was sponsored by Pakistan. Irrefutable inference [can be drawn] that it was sponsored by State actors involved in the security apparatus of Pakistan,” Mr. Nikam argued.

He said the Major General's name was not revealed to the attackers “undoubtedly because he was from the Pakistan Army.” “He is an entity separate from the Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT]; he must have been the supreme authority running the training camp.”

Citing excerpts from the judicial confession statement of lone surviving terrorist Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, recorded on 20 February 2009, Mr. Nikam said the Major General visited the training camps when military and intelligence training was being imparted to the attackers. He had enquired whether the trainees had any complaints and was keen that they completed the mission given by the LeT.

Comment: The Indians are serious about improving anti-terror cooperation, whereas Pakistan wants to restart a comprehensive dialogue.  Pakistan has arrested terrorists from every group except those that target India.  When that occurs, India will know Pakistan has abandoned terror as an instrument of state policy.

Since mid-January, Pakistan has done more to disrupt Pakistan-based terrorists and insurgents than any administration in a quarter century. But it has done little to suppress anti-Indian terrorists, which explains the public embarrassment of the Mumbai trial.

Phi Beta Iota: The tide has turned in the “Global War on Terror,” for a variety of reasons, with Malaysia, Indonesia, and Turkey being among those nations that merit huge respect for their steady secular approach to counter-terrorism, but two nations still stand out as state-sponsors of terrorism: Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.  Until the Americans stop lying to themselves and the public about their naive relationships with 42 of the 44 dictators on the planet, and their naive acceptance of Pakistan's deceit, Afghanistan will continue to be a “hurt locker.”

Phi Beta Iota: This website is focused on public intelligence in the public interest and strives to avoid favoring any specific policy proiposition.  Our view is that an informed public is a nation's greatest strength.  When we post information that takes a strident position, it is for informational purposes, not as an endorsement.  Below, linked from the photograph, is a speech delivered in the House of Lords of the British Parliament.

EXTRACT:  Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t have a problem and my party does not have a problem with Muslims as such. There are many moderate Muslims. The majority of Muslims are law-abiding citizens and want to live a peaceful life as you and I do. I know that. That is why I always make a clear distinction between the people, the Muslims, and the ideology, between Islam and Muslims. There are many moderate Muslims, but there is no such thing as a moderate Islam.

Islam strives for world domination. The Quran commands Muslims to exercise jihad. The Quran commands Muslims to establish shariah law. The Quran commands Muslims to impose Islam on the entire world.

Germany- Russia: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today that Russian President Medvedev should discuss his security initiative “within the framework” of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, RIA Novosti reported. Merkel said, “President Medvedev and I spoke by telephone last week and we reiterated that we should discuss his initiative on partnership in the security sphere.”

Note: The Russians are proposing a new European security treaty that rivals and might eventually replace NATO, but with Russia, Germany and France as the new leaders. The Germans plus some of the original NATO members appear to want more balance in their foreign relations, meaning they appear to be seeking to reduce their subservience to the US by establishing offsetting relations with Russia.

While that might seem odd, that is the way it looks. Even stranger is that the US is presented as supporting European NATO’s call for a withdrawal of nuclear weapons from western Europe, potentially leaving Russia and Frances as the only states possessing nuclear weapons in Europe.  Of course, the French will not dismantle their nuclear weapons, even while they support withdrawal of American weapons.

US actions in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past nine years have forced the maturation of relations and attitudes in Europe and Asia. The security regime of the post-World War II era is finally ending, albeit slowly and a decade after it should have ended.

US strategic planners need to be thinking about the implications of being first among equals, more than of being the only superpower.

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