Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alexander who wrote (15495)	1/15/2000 6:47:00 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

Alex, Are you a Stratfor pundit? Anyway, don't take the following remarks personal.... I just stumbled on the Stratfor news report hereafter and I want to qualify some of its implications. stratfor.com Excerpt: Moving to Europe is one thing, becoming an effective terrorist organization there is quite another. The GIA has previously attempted to force the French government to influence Algeria by, for example, its 1994 attempt at hijacking an Air France jet and its 1995 Parisian subway bombing campaign. However, aside from the difficulty of escaping European police, which have become increasing alert after GIA threatened a "bloodbath" in Belgium last summer, foreign terrorists need a great deal of support including weapons, cash, identity documents and intelligence. None of this is easy to acquire and usually requires the assistance of another nation that is willing to sponsor the group. Iran and Sudan are traditional sponsors of the GIA, but both have recently been attempting to increase their ties with Europe and are unlikely to take that role. _______________ This fib about Algeria's GIA threatening a "bloodbath" in Belgium should be analyzed with a "parochial" angle.... Firstly, you should be aware of the governmental nature of the so-called GIA terrorist groups --go to my Suite101 geostrategic forum and read the Algeria section(). So, just as with France's subway bombings in 1995 (when Chirac was Prime Minister under Pres. F. Mitterrand), the '99 GIA threat emanated directly from the Algerian junta's shadow cabinet (ie the generals and other high-ranking officers who actually pull the strings of the Algerian bloodbath). Well, the motives were somehow different in the case of Belgium: Algeria's sanguinary junta never looked to exert pressure on Belgium in its desperate struggle to keep power. Besides, Algeria's oil&gas barons have no reason to alienate one of their best customers (see Belgium's economic data re: gas imports....). So, why this sudden miff about Belgium? The answer is quite simple: there never was such a deliberate plot to terrorize Belgium. On the other hand, there was a ploy by Belgium's own police bigshots to undermine the scheduled police reform that resulted from the infamous Dutroux fiasco: Here's some background material: ft.com Excerpt: On the broader reform front, Mr Verhofstadt wants to modernise and de-politicise the public service. Legal reforms agreed by the last government after the Dutroux crisis - notably, creation of a single national police force* - will be stepped up. A single, federal food safety agency will be established to monitor the food chain. Red tape that strangles the growth of businesses will be cut. But, despite the determination to make changes, obstacles lie ahead. Systemic inertia and vested interests have defeated some previous attempts at public service reforms. Carrying through a radical reform agenda will also mean holding together a six-party coalition whose partners come from different political wings. [...] _______________ Hence Algeria's favor to Belgium's hawkish supercops: by lending itself to such a crafty scheme, the Algerian junta succeeded in demonizing the Islamic activists both within and without Algeria, and more to the Belgian gendarmerie's point and interest, it galvanized a crisis policy in Belgium --just as the country's newly appointed cabinet was expected to push the police reform forward.... As soon as the awful news of an imminent wave of bombings in Belgium was disclosed to the media, all the security bodies were called in: Surete de l'Etat, Gendarmerie, Police Judiciaire, Service de Renseignement de l'Arm‚e, etc. Such a showboat mobilization of all security forces heavily leant on the government for the choice of a strong, centralized "Gestapo" version of the new Belgian police. Yet, to tip the balance in favor of the Gendarmerie's hardliners, some bombshell had to be dropped on the media --especially as the Liberals (PRL & VLD) made up the majority of the new coalition and as a froggie Liberal, Mr Antoine Duquesne, was in charge of the Home Secretary (in contrast to the formerly Flemish tenures: Van den Bosch, Tobback, Vande Lanotte,....). Finally, you can't go wrong stirring up Belgium's wogbashing weakness: with neofascistic Vlaams Blok scoring over 30% in several Flemish suburbs, the most populist fringes within the state apparatus want to show the rednecks how much they care about keeping (Muslim) barbarians at the gate.... Get the picture, Alex? Gus. (*) suite101.com