May 22 - From The Telegraph (UK), Envoy injured by blast:

The British high commissioner to Bangladesh and his bodyguard were among 50 people injured yesterday when a bomb was thrown near a Muslim shrine.

Two people were killed in the blast from the bomb which struck Anwar Choudhury, 43, in the stomach before rolling away to explode.

[...]

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said he was "deeply shocked" adding: "Details of exactly what happened and the nature of the injuries are not clear."

The shrine has been attacked before and it was not clear if the diplomat was the target.

A senior doctor who treated Mr Choudhury said he had soft tissue injuries in his right leg, but was "in good health". Mr Choudhury and his bodyguard, who was also lightly injured, were flown to Dhaka on a Bangladeshi air force helicopter sent by Begum Khaleda Zia, the prime minister.

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May 2 - Pakistani police have uncovered and foiled a plot to use a truck bomb to blow a hole in the outer wall of a prison in which several terrorists are detained awaiting trial. Prisoners inside were to use smuggled explosives and weapons to make their escape (Mass al-Qa'eda jailbreak foiled by Karachi police.)

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May 2 - Al Qaeda, the refuge of those who are "in despair," dabbles in the Australian stock market with some help from a country some believe to be an ally: Aussie stocks help fund al-Qaeda:

AL-QAEDA is secretly investing in blue-chip Australian stocks and using the profits to help finance terrorism.

British intelligence agencies have established the terror group is also targeting top technology and defence corporations in Australia, Singapore and other Pacific Rim countries.

They say al-Qaeda is laundering billions of dollars it earns through drug-running, with the help of China's Secret Intelligence Service. [Emphasis added.]

US Treasury agents, working closely with European intelligence services, believe more than $A1 billion has been invested in stocks by al-Qaeda since the start of the year. [That's Australian dollars, btw.]

The money has been laundered through unsuspecting banks as far apart as Australia, Japan, Germany and Ireland.

British intelligence agency MI6 has also established that al-Qaeda's partner in the drug running was the China SIS.

Please, is really anyone surprised that Communist China may be less than an honourable member of the world community? PM Martin may think that the Chinese, who are wholeheartedly repressing human rights and reneging on agreements over Hong Kong, should have a seat at his G-20 table, but is that to protect Canadian trade with China or because he thinks the Chinese have anything to offer to the future?

[Note to those who read the article: CSIS in this case refers to the Chinese, not Canadian, intelligence agency.]

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May 2 - A brief article from Insight Magazine probes a question that hasn't been addressed on this continent enough: the extent to which Southeast Asia is Al-Qaeda's 'Second Front'.

Answering this question is harder than it appears in large part due to the patterns of denial by southeast Asian countries. Prior to the October, 2002, terrorist attack in Bali, for example, the Indonesian government had strenuously denied there were organized terrorist organizations there but if there was any upside to that attack, it was exposing the vast Jemaah Islamiah network that had penetrated even Australia itself.

As noted here, Thai officials have been divided over who was responsible for coordinated attacks that were launched April 28 on police stations and check points with some blaming the attacks on youth gangs.

There are some very serious concerns about that region:

The London-based analysts cite as an example an event that transpired on June 13, 2003. Acting on information received from U.S. investigators, according to the report, Thai authorities "seized a large amount of radioactive material" that originated from Russian stockpiles and that was smuggled into Thailand through Laos. The material, Cesium-137, a radioactive derivative of nuclear power plants, was to be used for a "dirty bomb."

Some analysts believe that Thailand and Southeast Asia, including parts of northern Australia, have been designated by al-Qaeda as a "second front" in the war on terror.

Last February, CNN had an online three part analysis of terrorism in southeast Asia:
Part I, Uncovering southeast Asia's jihad network,
Part II, Building al Qaeda's Asian network, and
Part III, Terrorism's new frontline.

These reports are worth the time it takes to read them. Although dated, there are some very familiar names that come up including my personal favourite, Jabarah, a Canadian from nearby St. Catharines who was eventually captured in Thailand. [I made the same mental slip again. This must be Freudian ...]

Things are not exactly tranquil in Indonesia these days; although the reaction to the arrest of Abu Bakar Bashir for his part in the Bali attack have not led to more than sporadic riots, his supporters are blaming pressure from the USA and Australia for the arrest rather than evidence of Bashir's central role in Jemaah Islamiah. (Diversion tactics are a major propaganda tool in Indonesia, too, it seems.)

As always, it is easier to see the rioters than those who continue with their daily lives; although the firm rejection of an Islamic fundamentalist state in the recent elections in Malaysia and this article about the Malaysia economy indicates that comparisons between southeast Asia and the Mideast have some interesting dissimilarities.

Just as economic opportunities play a role in combating terrorism, the threat of terrorism plays a role in reducing international investments which reduces economic opportunities. [Note to anti-globalization nuts: Shut. Up. How they can invoke anti-imperialism while urging measures that force people to live in poverty redefines either ignorance or cruelty. There are no noble savages, just people dying of malaria, malnutrition, AIDS and sometimes outright starvation.]

One lapse of the article is not taking a closer look at how Australia is leading the anti-terrorism efforts in the region, but then Australia itself is reticent on the subject. From what I've read in the Autralian press, though, it is fairly evident that Australia is monitoring that region, which although it may seem far away, is truly North America's western flank.

Note to Sen. Kerry and the state of California: screw Old Europe. The only thing they watch is their own backsides slipping deeper into irrelevance. Look to the west, old man. Dissing our true western allies really pisses me off, and if the media would pay more attention to that front I might regain some respect for them.

Insight Magazine is a sister publication of the Washington Times and UPI. I hope that the Times will begin to take more notice of Australia and the western front.

13:23: On Friday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Commission demanded demanded Thailand investigate the killings. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said:

"It is my job and we can cope with this matter. We are trying to explain this to foreigners. But if they do not understand or ignore our explanation, I don't care because we are not begging them for food," Thaksin said.

The Acting UN High Commissioner, Bertrand Ramcharan, gets his say here.

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