Free Republic

DUBAI — From Egypt to Jordan and Algeria to Yemen, Tunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution” has begun to undermine Arab regimes that have for decades maintained their control through fear, analysts say. “The question is who remains,” not which country is next, said Amr Hamzawy, research director at the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, adding protests could affect most Arab states except for Gulf oil monarchies. ... But the fear of serious strife in Egypt has set alarm bells ringing in Israel. “The Israeli strategic community is praying that this unrest in Egypt will fade away and not escalate into a...

Recent events in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt spell a dangerous new trend in the region. There have been major developments in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt, each of which is of tremendous importance. In Tunisia, a popular uprising fueled by unemployment, economic suffering and long-term discontent has overthrown the dictator, but not necessarily the dictatorship. In 55 years of independence, the country has been governed by two dictators, the current one being Zine al-Abedin Ben Ali, who has been president for 23 years and was a key power in the regime even before that. Is this going to spread? Does it...

The chemicals were stored in vats in the basement of an Egyptian restaurant in downtown Brussels. The suicide bomber, a former soccer player who had fallen into drug use and petty crime, had been selected. The target, the American Embassy in Paris, had been scouted. All that remained was the signal from Osama bin Laden's operatives in Afghanistan to strike. The nod was to come from a Frenchman of Algerian origin who was on his way back from training in Afghanistan. But he was arrested in transit, and he talked, spilling to French interrogators details of what could have been ...

Algeria receives Kilo-class submarines Written by defenceWeb, from SAPA Monday, 08 November 2010 12:41 Algeria has reportedly received two Kilo-class (Project 636) diesel-electric submarines from Russia, ordered as part of an arms package signed in mid-2006. The new arrivals take the fleet to four, French media say. The package included 180 T-90 main battle tanks and 28 Sukhoi Su-30MK fighter aircraft. The wikipedia notes the Project 636 “Varshavyanka” class is mainly intended for anti-shipping and anti-submarine operations in relatively shallow waters. GlobalSecurity notes the tear-drop hulled submarine is 72.6m long, 9.9m wide and can dive to 300 meters. The design...

Report: Russia hijacked its own ship Ynet probe reveals Russian intel used secret agents to arrest the Arctic Sea vessel, thought to have been hijacked by Israel, after getting tip it was violating international accord by carrying 'destabilizing' arms to Syria or Iran Ron Ben-Yishai Published: 09.02.09, 19:03 / Israel News A Ynet investigation revealed Wednesday that the hijacking of the Russian vessel 'Arctic Sea' was ordered by the Russian government. News agencies around the world published reports tying Israel to the hijacking, as the vessel was said to have been carrying arms to the Middle East, and possibly Iran....

Russia says it tracked hijacked Arctic Sea all along, but questions grow over cargo Tony Halpin in Moscow Russia’s top general hinted today that the ship allegedly hijacked by pirates earlier this month may have been carrying a secret cargo, as it emerged that the country’s Navy tracked the vessel throughout its journey. President Medvedev sent the Russian Navy to find the Arctic Sea after it apparently disappeared while passing through the English Channel en route to Algeria from Finland. However, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow now says that Russian and international agencies had monitored the ship throughout its strange...

The military airlifted the suspected hijackers of the Arctic Sea and most of its Russian crew from Cape Verde to Moscow on Thursday, after the lumber freighter mysteriously vanished and reappeared in the Atlantic. Eleven of the 15 crew members arrived in Moscow, while the captain and three sailors remained on the ship, which was adrift about 200 nautical miles from the West African island nation of Cape Verde. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said the freighter was sailing to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. The sailors and their suspected captors arrived in two separate Il-76 cargo jets at the...

An Algerian court sentenced a young man to two years in prison for breaking the fast of the holy month of Ramadan late in August, the daily El-Watan reported Thursday. Bouchouta Fares, 27, who was brought to trial at Oum El Bouaghi, 500 kilometres southeast of Algiers, was also fined to a fine of 100,000 dinars ($1,359 dollars) Monday for "breaching a precept of Islam," the report said. Islam is the state religion in the north African country. Acting on a tip-off, police in the town close to Ain el Beida carried out a raid on an abandoned building in...

Some OPEC members want oil prices to rise to $100 a barrel to offset the decline in the dollar. The value of the dollar, which has slipped 13% since June against major world currencies, means that the "real price" of oil is about $20 less than current levels, Venezuela's Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said after Thursday's OPEC meeting in Vienna. OPEC, which accounts for 40% of global crude output, left targets unchanged and called for stronger adherence to production quotas, Bloomberg News said. "They're concerned about the dollar because as the dollar weakens, prices go up," Nordine Ait-Laoussine,...

SNIPPET: "BARCELONA: A US citizen was arrested in this Spanish city for sending money to al-Qaida's North African branch, police said. Mohamed Omar Debhi, who is of Algerian descent, is accused of sending more than 60,000 euros to the al-Qaida Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which is based in Algeria. Debhi, 43, was arrested in the Esplugues de Llobregat district, where he is a resident. He also faces charges of possessing a false ID and defrauding Spanish social security services. He is alleged to have sent money via a bank transaction to a fugitive Algerian militant named by police...

PARIS (AP) - France has declared war on al-Qaida, and matched its fighting words with a first attack on a base camp of the terror network's North African branch, after the terror network killed a French aid worker it took hostage in April. The declaration and attack marked a shift in strategy for France, usually discrete about its behind-the-scenes battle against terrorism. "We are at war with al-Qaida," Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Tuesday, a day after President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the death of 78-year-old hostage Michel Germaneau. The humanitarian worker had been abducted April 20 or 22 in Niger...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - Plans to close Guantanamo are not sitting well with the Sept. 11 victims' relatives who sat stunned while two alleged terrorists declared they were proud of their role in the plot.

SNIPPET: "The Department of Defense announced the transfer of two Guantanamo detainees today. Abdul Aziz Naji, a native of Algeria, was repatriated to his home country. Abd-al-Nisr Mohammed Khantumani, a Syrian, was resettled in Cape Verde, an island republic approximately 300 miles off the west coast of Africa." SNIPPET: "US military officials at Gitmo alleged that Abdul Aziz Naji (whose internment serial number at Gitmo was 744) was a member of Laskar-e-Taiba (LET), a Pakistani-based terrorist organization closely linked to al Qaeda. A senior intelligence official contacted by the Long War Journal explained that not only was Naji a member...

The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the United States to return to Algeria two Guantanamo Bay prisoners who asked to remain at the prison camp because of fear they might be tortured at home. Justices on Saturday declined to hear the appeal of Aziz Abdul Naji, held at Guantanamo since 2002 after being captured in Pakistan. That ruling follows the high court's decision late Friday that allowed the U.S. government to proceed in sending another Algerian detainee home. The detainees had argued they would be harmed by the Algerian government or unaffiliated armed Islamic militants if they were...

Algiers has bought 28 Su-30MKA aircraft from Russia, and has options for additional 28. Lead-in training will be provided by 16 Yak 130 to be delivered from Russia. These Sukhoi fighters will operate in three squadrons positioned in Ain Baida airbase, in North-Eastern Algeria. Algeria is also reportedly was the lead export customer for the 34 Su-35 fighters to be delivered upon completion of the new fighter’s development. The Algerian Air Force prepared a new air base for the fighters. Officially opened in 2004 Ein Beida was prepared to receive the first two fighters in 2007 and is now operating...

In March, Russia's defense export giant Rosoboronexport signed a supply contract for 16 Su-30MKI (A) with Algeria. The estimated value of this deal may reach approximately $1 billion. Additionally, a contract for the delivery of six Su-30MK2 to Uganda was signed in March. The amount of the transaction may not be very high - up to $200 million, but it is the first time when new heavy fighters are purchased in sub-Saharan Africa. Earlier, there were negotiations with Uganda regarding sale of six lighter MiG-29, Vedomosti reports referring to sources close to the heads of the department. This deal with...

In English-speaking countries, the French armed forces have become a joke. Literally. Entire websites are devoted to one-liners like: “How many gears do French tanks have? Six: five reverse and one forward.” This is a gross slander of a nation that, back in the days of Louis XIV and Napoleon, was synonymous with military excellence. Those skills, that courage, that panache did not suddenly disappear in the 20th century, notwithstanding France’s string of humiliating defeats. There is no better reminder of that than the career of General Marcel Bigeard, who died on June 18 at age 94.

Militants linked to Al Qaeda are building fortified bun-kers in the Algeria and Mali areas of the Sahara desert to shelter militants from air attacks, security experts claim. The members of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have hidden themselves in the desert without any notion of national boundaries, according to the experts. “We have different verifiable reports which enable us to state that AQIM is currently in the process of building shelters, or bunkers, in which to hide against attacks in the desert shared by Mali and Algeria,” a Malian source told Middle East Online, reported AKI. “There is...

PRETORIA, South Africa – Algeria soccer player Rafik Saifi slapped a female journalist across the face as the aftermath of the United States’ dramatic World Cup victory turned ugly at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Wednesday night. While walking through the interview zone, Saifi spotted writer Asma Halimi, who works for Algerian newspaper Competition, and struck her with his open hand in front of dozens of witnesses. Halimi responded by striking the player in the mouth.

Landon Donovan's goal in extra time lifted the U.S. to a dramatic 1-0 win over Algeria on Wednesday, sending the U.S. on to the second round of the World Cup for just the third time in history. The options were clear for the U.S. entering the game: Win and go on, or lose and go home. And that's not a scenario the U.S. has had success with, never having won a third game in a World Cup, going 0-7 while being outscored 20-6. For more than 90 minutes Wednesday, it appeared as though that wasn't going to change. But in...