Middle East

Oh how wonderful from the religion of peace.

A Saudi cleric is advocating gang rape of women, as young as 14, so that soldiers can feel sexually satisfied.

Remind me again how we should be tolerant of Islam:

One upside of the Australian MP’s kicking to touch marriage equality is that New Zealand is now open to GLBT tourist weddings.  Australian gay and lesbian couples can come to New Zealand and tie the knot.

How would the New Zealand “gay mafia” handle this situation?

Because Susanne, 56, and Mike 58, are devout Christians and only allow married heterosexual couples to book into their double rooms. And Michael Black and John Morgan, who hail from Cambridgeshire and have been together for nearly ten years, are gay.

‘I’d had a booking from a Mr Black for the Zurich room — a nice big double with an en-suite,’ explains Susanne. ‘And, naturally, I assumed it was for Mr and Mrs Black. But as I helped them manoeuvre their car into the drive, I realised they were two men and I thought: “Oh dear, this isn’t a situation I can go along with.” ’

They seem to discriminate against unmarried heterosexual couples as well.

The couple even banned a family member from sharing a room with her boyfriend. ‘That caused a bit of a scene. But you have to be consistent and honest.’

Goodness, very conservative.  You would think they were running a hotel in the Middle East.

Tau Henare went to extreme lengths of actually marrying his missus to travel to the Middle East for a troughing trip. I asked Cactus Kate how she travelled in the Middle East and rather stoop to Henare’s extremes she just broke the law and signed in at the front desk as travelling with her father then was faced with a suite with two single beds.  Then didn’t go back.

The All Blacks seem to share rooms when they travel.  Under this sort of regime they could not.

C.J. Chivers at The Gun

The end is nigh for Bashar al-Assad. The clock is ticking and it is only a matter of time now before he is either over-run, killed or needs to rely on the Russians to get him out. basically the opposition has learned and adapted and Syria’s armed forces do not have the skills to counter-act developments not the time to develop those skills:

The opposition’s rapid mastery of improvised explosives since the spring changed the character and momentum of this conflict, and put Syria’s army, notwithstanding what seems its enduring material strength, in a highly unenviable position.

All of this will be grounds for much more work, analysis and comment than can be shoe-horned into one news story.  Military historians will spend time on these themes. This is in part because the turnabout here – a government that long exported improvised explosive technology in the region now stands to have its army unraveled by improvised explosives — is compelling. But the commentary will be richer and more subtle than that, ranging from technical analysis to moral querying, and to arguments over how to label and engage the various forces within the anti-Assad opposition, and their war.

ᔥ The Telegraph

It seems the Israelis have done even better than they did with their Stuxnet virus:

The world’s most complex computer virus, possessing a range of complex espionage capabilities, including the ability to secretly record conversations, has been exposed.

Middle Eastern states were targeted and Iran ordered an emergency review of official computer installations after the discovery of a new virus, known as Flame.

Experts said the massive malicious software was 20 times more powerful than other known cyber warfare programmes including the Stuxnet virus and could only have been created by a state.

It is the third cyber attack weapon targeting systems in the Middle East to be exposed in recent years.

Iran has alleged that the West and Israel are orchestrating a secret war of sabotage using cyber warfare and targeted assassinations of its scientists as part of the dispute over its nuclear programme.

Stuxnet attacked Iran’s nuclear programme in 2010, while a related programme, Duqu, named after the Star Wars villain, stole data.

Flame can gather data files, remotely change settings on computers, turn on computer microphones to record conversations, take screen shots and copy instant messaging chats.

The virus was discovered by a Russian security firm that specialises in targeting malicious computer code.

It made the 20 gigabyte virus available to other researchers yesterday claiming it did not fully understand its scope and said its code was 100 times the size of the most malicious software.

Kaspersky Labs said the programme appeared to have been released five years ago and had infected machines in Iran, Israel, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

“If Flame went on undiscovered for five years, the only logical conclusion is that there are other operations ongoing that we don’t know about,” Roel Schouwenberg, a Kaspersky security senior researcher, said.

ᔥ The Telegraph

The North American continent is set to surpass the Middle East for energy resources:

North America’s energy sector has the potential to drive a “remarkable resurgence” that could see the Continent become the new Middle East in shaping the global supply of gas and oil, a new report has claimed.

Deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, tapping shale deposits for gas and oil and Canada’s oil sands are among the ingredients that could see North America’s production of oil and natural gas liquids almost double to 26.6m barrels a day by 2020, according to a report by analysts at Citigroup.

“The energy sector in the next few decades could drive an extraordinary and timely revitalisation and reindustralisation of the US economy,” the 80-page report said.

The vexed question of America’s future energy needs and how to meet them has dominated the battle for The White House in recent weeks, as the Republican challengers blame President Barack Obama for the recent rise in petrol prices.

Another Kiwi SAS soldier has been killed in Afghanistan:

A second New Zealand SAS soldier has been killed in Afghanistan, Prime Minister John Key has confirmed.

In a press conference at Parliament featuring Key, Defence Minister Wayne Mapp and Defence Force Lieutenant General Rhys Jones, Key said the soldier was shot during an operation in Wardak province, near Kabul, this morning (NZ time).

Key expressed his condolences to the man’s family and the entire Defence Force.

“I deeply regret the loss of our soldiers but I don’t regret the commitment we’ve made to Afghanistan,” he said.

Jones said the operation was still ongoing and the name of the soldier would not be released for 24 hours. The soldier had received a head wound and had been evacuated by helicopter, but died while being operated on.

He was shot during an exchange of rifle fire involving 15 Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers.

Jones said the SAS were reacting to information about a team preparing to launch an attack on Kabul.

The operation began at 9am (NZ time) and one child and a ”fighting-aged” male were also injured.

Key said the SAS faced volatile and dangerous conditions in order to help the people of Afghanistan.

”They are brave, resourceful and resilient and they are making a valuable contribution in Afghanistan.

”He paid the highest price for his service to this country and we will mourn his death.”

The number two man in Al Qaeda is dead.

Al Qaeda’s No. 2 boss, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, has been killed in Pakistan, dealing another devastating blow to the terrorist network, a U.S. official said Saturday.

Just four months after Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden was gunned down by an elite Navy SEAL team in his Pakistani hideaway, al Rahman was killed in Pakistan’s tribal region, Waziristan, the official told the Associated press.

The official said al Rahman died Aug. 22, but would not say how he met his demise.

His death came on the same day an unmanned CIA drone bombed the Waziristan area.

Two down, next!

There is a great gallery of hi-res photos of the makehsift weapons of the rebel forces in Libya. They have essentially cannibalised weapon systems of helicopters, tanks and APCs and adapted them to fit ont eh back of the Toyota pickup.

There are some really serious photos of people taking explosives from mines and re-arming RPGs….scary stuff. My favourite photo is the guy on an office chair firing a FN FAL 7.62mm assault rifle at a government jet.

There is a great shot of the FN F2000 captured from government forces.

The F2000 is a modular weapon system; its principal component is a compact 5.56x45mm NATO-caliber assault rifle configured in a bullpup layout. The F2000 is a selective fire weapon operating from a closed bolt.

The rifle consists of two main assemblies: the barreled receiver group and the frame, coupled together by means of an axis pin located above the trigger guard. The barrel group has an integral MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny rail used to mount optical sights. The frame or lower receiver contains the trigger group, the bolt and bolt carrier assembly, return mechanism and magazine well. A removable handguard is installed in front of the trigger which completes and encloses the trigger guard.

This one is the FN F2000 assault rifle, with telescope sight and 40mm FN EGLM grenade launcher. It looks like it has a sound moderator fitted as well. Libya purchased 367 F2000 rifles along with other assorted lethal and non-lethal weapon systems from FN Herstal in 2008, and deliveries commenced in 2009.

Recently the Singapore Army was here, they even helped in Christchurch after the earthquake. At the time I blogged about their gear on the wharf.

Turns out that their gear is becoming very popular with a few Armies, not the least the British Army which is very impressed with the Warthog.

The vehicle’s success has led to a rethink on British tactics as they are not only able to deliver troops, supplies but they can also bring down heavy firepower from unexpected directions.

It can carry up to a dozen soldiers who can be deployed either to fight insurgents or engage with the local population to build up an intelligence picture of tribal communities.

It has almost certainly saved lives after 11 Warthogs were hit in one tour by large IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device) without anyone inside being killed although two were badly wounded.

Israel’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon explains the historical facts relating to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The video explains where the terms “West Bank”, “occupied territories” and “67 Borders” originated and how they are incorrectly used and applied.