Holland Votes for EU To Label IRGC a “Terrorist Organization”

The Netherlands is stepping up to the plate. The Dutch parliament has voted in favor of adding the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps to the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations.


If the EU makes such a move, all IRGC assets on the continent can be frozen and it will be illegal for anyone to have financial transactions with any member of the group.

As the IRGC essentially controls the Iranian government now, this is tantamount to complete sanctions on the Iranian government.

World Threats

Somali Al-Shabaab group a terrorist organisation

August 21, 2009

THE Rudd Government has listed Somali-based Al-Shabaab as a terrorist organisation.

In a Commonwealth Gazette statement dated August 21, 2009, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith listed the group under subsection 15 (1) of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945.

The Government has been under pressure to proscribe the group, which has been listed as a terrorist organisation in the United States since February 2008.

Earlier in August, Australian police arrested several men with suspected links to al-Shabaab.

It's alleged the men intended to launch a suicide attack on the Holsworthy army barracks in Sydney.

According to the United States National Counter-Terrorism Centre website, senior members of the al-Shabaab leadership are affiliated with al-Qaeda and are believed to have fought with them in Afghanistan.

It said al-Shabaab was the militant wing of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council that took over most of southern Somalia in late 2006.

"In December 2006 and January 2007, Somali Government and Ethiopian forces routed it in a two-week war," the NCTC said.

"Since the end of 2006 it has led a violent insurgency, using guerrilla warfare and terrorist tactics against the continued Ethiopian presence in Somalia, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, and non-governmental aid organisations."

No comment was immediately available from Attorney-General Robert McClelland's or Mr Smith's offices.

Source: The Australian

Shane Kent admits terrorist links

Guilty plea ... Shane Kent outside a Melbourne court

MELBOURNE man Shane Kent has pleaded guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court to being a member of a terrorist organisation and being involved in preparing a terrorist act.

Kent, 32, made the admission on Tuesday just before a jury was to be empanelled for what was to be his retrial after a jury was unable to reach a verdict in his original trial last September.

He faced a trial last year along with 11 other men accused of being members of a Melbourne terror group that had discussed plans to bomb various landmarks in the city, including the MCG on AFL grand final day.

Kent, from Campbellfield, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of intentionally being a member of a terrorist organisation between July 2004 and November 2005.

The father of three also pleaded guilty to one count of making a document connected with the preparation of a terrorist act. Read more ...

Source: The Courier-Mail

Turkey urges Obama to delist Hamas from Terror List

Turkey's prime minister had a message Thursday for U.S. President Barack Obama: redefine terror and terrorism in the Middle East and use it as the basis for a new American policy.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country has played a key role in trying to mediate among Israel and Syria and the Palestinians, said Obama's new Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, will be in Turkey for talks Sunday.

"President Obama must redefine terror and terrorist organizations in the Middle East, and based on this new definition, a new American policy must be deployed in the Middle East," Erdogan told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The Turkish leader appeared to be referring to the U.S. position toward Hamas and Hezbollah, which the United States considers terrorist organizations. While both have military wings, Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 and remains in charge following the recent Israeli invasion. Hezbollah is a major political force in Lebanon.Read more ...

Source: AP
H/T: Weasel Zippers

Terrorists: Yes, Our Official Website Is Hosted in the U.S., so What?

Our friends at the NEFA foundation have released a translation of a communique from the "Shebaab al-Mujahideen Movement in Somalia" condemning al Jazeera for passing along false information that they condemned piracy off the coast of Somalia. The message from the Shabaab stops short of supporting piracy, but it goes to great lengths in saying that the official position of the al Qaeda affiliated group is that they have not condemned the hijacking of a Saudi oil tanker, which kind of speaks for itself, doesn't it? Read more ...

Source: The Jawa Report

Hizb ut-Tahrir America May Be Ready for Its Public Debut

By Madeleine Gruen

Hizb ut-Tahrir America (HTA) may perceive itself as ready to emerge from the shadows.

A leaflet credited to HTA was posted today to Khalifah.com, one of the few official Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) web sites. It is the first time that the global organization has formally acknowledged the existence of HTA.

The leaflet, originally dated October 28, 2008, is titled "Cooperate in Piety or Sin? Participation in the American Election." It calls for American Muslims not to participate in the U.S. presidential election.

In countries where HT has transitioned from a covert developmental phase to its public form it has been because the branch's membership was devoted enough to sustain potential resistance from local government agencies, its membership base was large enough to project the impression of strength, and it had influential members able to effectively persuade others of the party's objectives and methods for establishing an Islamic state.

Although we have been casually aware of HTA's presence for many years, and have seen unofficial acknowledgment of its existence by its own members, we have not seen a nation-wide public demonstration by HTA or any official web sites. Therefore, we do not have a measurable way to determine the size of HTA's membership or the depth of its influence. However, the official acknowledgment of HTA's existence, as demonstrated by the publication of the leaflet on the Khalifah web site, possibly shows that the HT leadership perceives HTA is solid enough to withstand public knowledge of its existence and the potential for additional scrutiny that comes with that knowledge.

Source: Counterterrorism Blog

Hamas: We met Obama advisersTerrorist group says campaign asked it to keep contact secret until after election

By Aaron Klein

JERUSALEM – Hamas held a meeting in the Gaza Strip several months ago with aides to President-elect Barack Obama, but the terror group was asked to keep the contacts secret until after last week's elections, according to a senior Hamas official.

Ahmed Yousef, Hamas' chief political adviser in Gaza, told the leading Al-Hayat Arabic-language newspaper Hamas has maintained regular communication with Obama aides that even continued during the past week.

"We were in contact with a number of Obama's aides through the Internet, and later met with some of them in Gaza, but they advised us not to come out with any statements, as they may have a negative effect on his election campaign and be used by Republican candidate John McCain (to attack Obama)," Yousuf told Al-Hayat. Read more ...

Source: WNDRobert Malley
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award

Khalidi of the PLO

By Martin Kramer

Was Rashid Khalidi a PLO "spokesman" or director of its press agency in Beirut back in 1982? I'll leave it to others to determine whether or not it matters (or matters enough) to the Khalidi-Obama connection. But I get riled up when people testify to Khalidi's bona fides without doing due diligence—especially when they specifically address Jewish audiences. Example: Ron Kampeas of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). Read more ...

Source: Snadbox