European Women Join Ranks of Jihadis
10 Jan. Los Angeles Times - European Women Join Ranks of Jihadis.
Quote:
... The story of the Dutch network, 14 members of which are now on trial, reveals the increasing aggressiveness and prominence of female extremists in Europe. In a chilling trend in the Netherlands and Belgium, police are investigating militants' wives suspected of plotting suicide attacks with their husbands, or on their own.
"I think it's a very dangerous trend," said Ali, the lawmaker targeted for assassination. "Women all over the world are seen as vulnerable, as less violent. And that can make anti-terror authorities less vigilant when it comes to women."...
Anatomy of terrorist attack. London and Madrid.
Home grown Terrorism Analysis
That looks really interesting. Thanks for posting that.
EU Terrorism Situation & Trend Report 2007
The first EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report TE-SAT 2007 produced by Europol was presented 10 April 2007 in the European Parliament in Brussels.
The report identifies three continuing trends within terrorism in EU countries: separatism, anarchism and Islamic extremism. While the vast majority of terrorist attacks reported in Europe in 2006 were separatist in nature, the largest number of arrests were linked to Islamic extremists. The report indicates that France, Spain and the UK are the countries most severely affected by terrorism, and that most terrorist incidents in Europe are designed to avoid human casualties.
The largest single category of incidents in 2006 was separatist attacks in France and the largest single category of arrests was also of separatists in France; nearly all related to the island of Corsica. Separatist attacks in Spain accounted for over one hundred incidents, despite the ceasefire maintained by Basque separatist group ETA during most of the year. Coming in a distant third in number of incidents was left-wing/anarchist attacks in Greece. At the bottom of the list were Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, who all reported neither investigations nor court proceedings related to terrorism in 2006, suggesting that they are the least affected by terrorism in the region.
What happened to Blitz spirit asks survivor
After a long delay a coroners inquest into the deaths in the 7/7 LOndon attack opened last week; albeit under special rules, a judge sitting as coroner and without a jury.
There have been several reports, but this one struck me as worthy of entering here. References have been made in another thread on the "spirit of the blitz" and this indicates to the contrary:
Quote:
Mr Henning was the first survivor to give evidence at the inquest into the deaths of 52 people in four terrorist explosions on London’s transport system.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...-survivor.html
Last week there was an indication that Command & Control had "issues", starting with the phone system and this 'Achilles Heel' will re-appear:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...ube-chaos.html
Europe's CT hard choices (catch all)
With a sub-title 'The threat is fragmenting and budgets are shrinking', a good overview of the current CT situation in Western Europe by Raffaello Pantucci, an independent analyst:http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/kmd/.../index.php#/40
The Islamist Terrorist Threat to Europe after bin Laden’s Death
A short nineteen page analysis by Raffaello Pantucci, of ICSR, presented in July 2011 at Chatham House:http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/de..._terrorism.pdf
Quote:
This paper will explore the current state of the threat to Europe, how it is connected to the broader threat that is faced in the United States and how it has evolved in this direction. In concluding, it will offer some thoughts on the current direction the threat is going and sketch out some problems that
Europe might face in countering it.... Nevertheless, violent Islamist terrorism with its preference for large-scale multiple strikes using suicide bombers often
coordinated by outside actors continues to be the main threat that is focused on by European security services.
Several references are made to information recovered in OBL's home.
Regarding Preventing / Countering Violent Extremism (PVE / CVE):
Quote:
the world has not yet found an effective and comprehensive solution to the problem of young people becoming excited by globalist Islamist anti-establishmentarian narratives and becoming persuaded to go and fight abroad and in some cases come back and plot terrorist acts. Broadly captured under the banner of Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) by the British government and subsequently emulated by many, the world has notably not managed to crack this code.
Ends with:
Quote:
While it is clear that intelligence services across Europe have now begun to understand what it is that they are facing and to go
about chasing it, they remain unclear of how exactly to stamp it out. Consequently, ten years after 11 September 2001, Europe is continuing to manage its terrorist problem rather than eradicate it.
200 suicide bombers 'planning attacks in UK
Under such a lurid headline, this is a newspaper story based on 'a senior intelligence source' and a "leaked" document - which may add some context to this thread.
Quote:
The 200 British residents thought to be planning suicide attacks, either within the UK or overseas, represent one in 10 of the wider group of 2,000 terrorist plotters.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...cks-in-UK.html
Blending high impact and having guns = everyone is a potential target
After the French train suspected 'lone wolf' attack analysts are chiming in on how Europe should respond, although this is a global problem IMHO.
The thread title is adapted from Raffaello Pantucci's writings (now @ RUSI):http://raffaellopantucci.com/2015/08...ential-target/
The BBC has a former French intelligence agent Claude Moniquet adding his experienced viewpoint (he left the external service DGSE in 2002):http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34032781
He ends with:
Quote:
The only way to protect society against the terrorist threat lies in strengthening intelligence and laws.
The Soufan Group:http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrie...tack-revealed/
Everyone in Europe or the UK yes is a potential target, everyone then is the first responder - as shown by the passengers on the French Thalys train. In the UK there is ample evidence that the vast majority of onlookers do not respond, indeed they simply walk on.
Several references have been made to five to six thousand former fighters who have returned from the Middle East, a number that simply overwhelms being kept under official surveillance. I am always slightly puzzled at this phrase; if they have returned do they all wish to fight again another day?
How many such incidents, with civilian deaths is tolerable?
I do wonder if imprisonment without trial, known simply as internment, is not on the horizon. Not that I today advocate this.
ISIS Operations in Europe
I'll just leave these two articles here for comparison and contrast.
From February 15, 2015 -
Quote:
ISIS threatens to send 500,000 migrants to Europe as a 'psychological weapon' in chilling echo of Gaddafi's prophecy that the Mediterranean 'will become a sea of chaos'
Italian press today published claims that ISIS has threatened to release the huge wave of migrants to cause chaos in Europe if they are attacked
And letters from jihadists show plans to hide terrorists among refugees
In 2011, Muammar Gaddafi ominously predicted war would come to Libya
He was deposed in a violent coup and killed in October of the same year
Islamic State executed 21 Egyptian Christians on Libyan beach this week
Crisis in Libya has led to surge in number of migrants heading for Europe
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3lT4lvGnW
From September 3rd, 2015
Quote:
The Greek coastguard has seized a ship loaded with thousands of undeclared, carefully concealed weapons, and possibly explosives, en route from Turkey to Libya. Local media claims the ship is linked to Islamic State (IS) and to companies who have previously smuggled goods to Syria – the Turkish foreign minister denies this.
The ship had come from Alexandretta in Egypt on to the Turkish port of Iskenderun, and was bound for the Libyan port of Misrata – a stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked group “Libya Dawn.”
It was raided on Tuesday 20 nautical miles off Create and has now been escorted to the port of Heraklion where searches began on Wednesday. The ship flies under a Bolivian flag, but its seven-member crew are thought to be from Syria, Egypt and India.
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015...pons-shipment/