It is unprecedented in American counterterrorism annals: in one day, the nation was dealing with three separate jihadist plots to blow up civilian and other targets inside the homeland. Although the cases were addressed at different time periods by the FBI and other agencies, nevertheless, the thickening web of terror attempts breached the crossing line of U.S. national security. This past week, authorities revealed three conspiracies by American jihadists: Michael C. Finton, a 29-year-old man who wished to follow the steps of American-born Taliban John Walker Lindh, was arrested after trying to detonate what he thought was a bomb inside a van outside a federal courthouse in Springfield, Illinois. Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian national, was arrested after placing what he believed was a bomb at a downtown Dallas skyscraper. But perhaps the most troubling case is of Afghan-born Najibullah Zazi, who set up shop in suburban Denver, scouting the Web and visiting beauty supply stores in a hunt for chemicals needed to build bombs for al Qaeda. Sources called the alleged plot one of the most significant terror threats to the U.S. since 9/11. Add to the list the North Carolina Jihad cell, led by Daniel Patrick “Saifullah” Boyd, which was planning on attacking civilian and military targets across the country. The immediate question being raised by an increasingly worried public regarding all of these terror cases is: are they all connected? While law enforcement and certainly judicial authorities proceed in a bottom up reasoning – that is, to build the case for a global connection between all what is happening with the help of legal evidence – analysts in the field of counterterrorism and conflict are already realizing the meaning of what is happening inside America.
Iran’s missile tests cause concern, Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has said. He has also called on Tehran to closely cooperate with the IAEA regarding its nuclear ambitions. "This is not banned by any international treaties. Of course, when missile launches accompany an unresolved situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear programme, this causes concern," Sergey Lavrov said. Further, Sergey Lavrov has urged Iran to fully answer questions related to recent revelations about a second uranium enrichment facility in the country. The comments came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, at the United Nations. “Our meeting was mainly devoted to the situation with Iran’s nuclear issue ahead of talks in Geneva,” Lavrov said. Six-party talks, involving the United States, Russia, Great Britain, China, South Korea and Japan, plus Iran, are scheduled for October, 1.
After forming a new coalition with a more pro-Ankara ally, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is unlikely to try to block the progress of Ankara's EU bid despite opposing full Turkish membership, Turkish analysts say. Merkel, who has long favored a 'privileged partnership' for predominantly Muslim Turkey that stops short of full EU membership, led her conservative Christian Democrats to win a parliamentary majority on Sunday. "We are much more open vis a vis Turkish membership in the European Union and now that we negotiate, we should negotiate with the possibility of Turkey joining," FDP parliamentary foreign policy spokesman Werner Hoyer told Reuters Television. "After winning Sunday's election, Merkel may feel more free to express her well-known position on Turkey's EU membership, but it remains to be seen if she will go out of her way to block Turkey's progress as the French have done," said Turkish analyst Semih Idiz, who frequently writes about foreign affairs. Accession talks have moved slowly because of Brussels' concerns over human rights, complaints about a lack of progress on reforms and a territorial dispute with EU member Cyprus.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat voiced disappointment Friday with Cypriot President Demetris Christofias' speech to the UN General Assembly. "He destroyed everything that was achieved during the [reunification] talks," Talat told a press conference in New York. "I offered to him a trilateral meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon but he refused. They were afraid that thus the Cypriot issue would attract too much attention among the international community," Talat said, ahead of a meeting Monday with Ban. In his speech last week, Christofias said that "despite our common efforts, the Turkish Cypriot side, supported by Turkey, continues to present positions and proposals which lead us outside the framework of the UN resolutions on Cyprus." Last week, relations between leaders of the two communities took a negative turn over their differing views on Turkish settlers. Greek Cypriots insist that the island could be reunified only if the Turkish settlers return to Turkey. Last Wednesday, however, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in New York with Christofias and told him that the settlers will not leave Cyprus.
A Serbian court on Monday convicted a former Bosnian security officer to 12 years in prison for ordering a 1992 attack on a Yugoslav army convoy in which at least 50 soldiers were killed. According to the indictment, Ilija Jurisic, ordered an attack on soldiers who were withdrawing in the predominantly Muslim Bosnian city of Tuzla, despite an agreement between authorities that they could leave the city peacefully. The court said in its verdict that the Bosnian troops first killed the truck drivers with sniper fire, and then fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at the vehicles. Fifty one soldiers were killed and at least 50 wounded in the attack in May 1992. During the trial, Jurisic admitted to having ordered the attack on the army convoy, but said he was acting on the orders of his superiors. Jurisic was at the time a senior Bosnian police official.
The latest figures on language skills in Europe, which relate to 2007, were published by EU statistical office Eurostat last week (24 September) ahead of European Languages Day, which was celebrated across the continent on Saturday (26 September). Secondary schools in the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Finland all reported that 100% of their students learn two or more foreign languages, with Slovenia and Slovakia (both 98%) and Estonia (97%) following close behind. The highest proportions of students studying one foreign language are to be found in Greece (92%), Italy (74%), Ireland (73%), Spain (68%) and Malta (60%). As for the language skills of the EU population as a whole, just under a third (28%) of 25-64 year olds surveyed said they spoke two or more foreign languages, but 36% could not speak any. Slovenia (72%), Slovakia and Finland (both 68%) and Lithuania (66%) record the highest proportion of speakers of two or more foreign languages, while the UK (65%), Cyprus (59%) and Austria (50%) lead those nations whose citizens speak one. However, three quarters of Hungarians, half (51%) of Portuguese and 47% of Spaniards speak only their native language. English is the most widely spoken foreign language in the majority of EU member states.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew issued an appeal to the international community to take measures to avert "more unfortunate consequences of the climate change" in view of the imminent UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December and an environmental conference in Bangkok. "Reaching a good agreement in Copenhagen is a moral obligation in order to save the world and is also the only path to economic and social survival," the Ecumenical Patriarch stressed, adding that "dealing with climate change should not be regarded as economic burden but as an important opportunity for a healthier planet to the benefit of all humanity; the states that are not as developed, in particular." "The crucial nature of the situation, and the scientific and technological progress, show that global economy should turn toward renewable energy sources and avert further deforestation," the Ecumenical Patriarch stressed, adding that this is an obligation toward the children of the world.