The Nobel Committee said he was awarded it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".

"His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population" said the Norwegian committee.

There were a record 205 nominations for this year's prize.

UPDATE

Here are a few reactions from around the world: 

Shimon Peres:  "Very few leaders if at all were able to change the mood of the entire world in such a short while with such profound impact. Under your leadership, peace became a real and original agenda.”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahi: "We condemn the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for Obama, We have seen no change in his strategy for peace. He has done nothing for peace in Afghanistan”

Hamid Karzai's spokesman Siamak Hirai: "His hard work and his new vision on global relations, his will and efforts for creating friendly and good relations at global level and global peace make him the appropriate recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize."

Ehud Barak : "I believes the prize will strengthen President Barack Obama's capability to contribute to regional peace in the Middle East, and to an agreement between us and the Palestinians that will bring security, growth and prosperity to all the nations in the region."

 

 

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It was a violent blast which woke up Kabul this morning. A kamikaze detonated a car bomb near the Indian embassy, wounding dozens of people and killing twelve.

The Indian foreign secretary, Nirupama Rao, says the embassy was clearly the target: "The suicide bomber came up to the outside perimeter wall of the embassy with a car loaded with explosives obviously with the aim of targeting the embassy."

Rings a bell? Last year, on July 7th 2008 the insurgents had already targeted the Indian embassy, killing and injuring more than 100 people, including two Indian diplomats.

Since then the road in front of the embassy has been barricaded and the diplomatic compound is surrounded by a double layer of high-rise walls.

Even though Nirupama Rao states that she believes "that those measures have worked effectively and have been able to prevent what could have been a tragedy similar to what had occurred in July, 2008," it is clear what the insurgents are trying to prove.

They want the Afghan people as well as the international community to know that they can strike anywhere in Afghanistan, even in central Kabul at rush-hour, despite reinforced security around their target.

An interesting timeline of deadliest attacks in Afghanistan, here.

 

Photo courtesy of AFP

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Still talking about Iran... No I'm not obsessed with it, it's just that Iran is the talk of the week/month/2009.

Last week when the Calais "jungle", a refugee camp in the North of France, was 'evacuated' by the French government, many young Iranians were among the refugees looking for asylum. Some of them explained that even though they weren't part of "the ethnic minorities who would normally make the perilous journey into exile", they were fleeing the repression following the pro-reform demonstrations, especially the violence acts perpetrated by the "Basij".

The Basij (Farsi for mobilisation) is an omnipresent paramilitary organization with multiple roles which acts as the eyes and ears of the Islamic regime. Basij militia are present in schools, universities, state and private institutions, factories, and even among tribes.
They were put in place by the Ayatollah Khomeini in November 1979 and are still celebrated every year in Iran during what is called "Basij week".

Yesterday Walid Phares from the Counterterrorism blog told us about the Declaration Condemning Human Rights Abuse in Iran which calls for an investigation of "the so-called "Basij militia" for alleged abuse of human rights". 

Among talks of international security it is crucial to remember that the Iranian regime is also a threat to its own population.

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After 14 months of silence, the meeting between Iran and the 6 (Russia, China, France, US, UK and Germany) comes after a week full of surprises.

Last Friday, Iran disclosed that it was building a second nuclear facility in Qom.On Monday, Tehran tested its new missile the Shahab -3 despite the nuclear dispute.

And yesterday, though the news didn't really get out of France yet, the satirical weekly newspaper "Le Canard Enchaîné" revealed that Iran owns about 10% of the uranium enrichment plant Tricastin which produces 25% of the global enriched uranium production.

The factory which belongs to Areva supplies a hundred nuclear power plants in the world and 58 French ones.  Areva says that "Iran never received a single gram of uranium from France" and insists there hasn’t been any nuclear "technology transfers" between the two countries.
Tehran contributed more than one billion dollars to the construction of the uranium enrichment plant back in 1974 by signing an agreement on civil nuclear with Paris.

Just 35 years ago though, the Shah, then a US ally, was deemed a visionary when he ambitioned "producing, as soon as possible, 23 000 megawatts of electricity using nuclear plants." He had even approved plans to construct, with US help, up to 23 nuclear power stations by the year 2000.

After the 1979 Revolution France refused to give any enriched uranium to Iran. But Iran didn't get back his investments in the plant either.

Today Iran is still economically cooperating to French nuclear enrichment. Meanwhile France is hoping to forbid Iran to produce any uranium "it's a matter of peace and stability" Sarkozy said in Pittsburgh at the G20.

Oh well, "l'argent n'a pas d'odeur"...

 

Image: Advertisement from the 1970's by American nuclear-power companies.

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Amid threats of sanctions from Western countries over its nuclear program Iran decided to look the other way where their Shahab-3 and Sejil missiles were being tested this morning.

Despite Tehran's defense that the missile tests had been planned for a while and have nothing to do with the current nuclear dispute they have been deemed "deeply destabilizing" by the French Foreign Ministry, Bernard Kouchner. It "sends the wrong signal to the international community" said the U.K. Foreign Office said in an e-mailed statement.

A former U.K. ambassador to Iran, Richard Dalton, had a more cynical view and stating that Iranian officials have "been poked and they think this is a good moment to show off their capabilities."

For all of you ballistics people, you can read more about Shahab-3 here.

I just wanted to give you details on how far these missiles can reach in more geographical terms than the approximate 2000 km-range recorded in 2008 when the missiles were last tested.

In Europe, shot from North West of Iran a Shahab 3 missile reaches the eastern part of the EU: that is Bucharest, Sofia, Athens. It can also target Kiev and Moscow.
It's already been said that these missiles can reach Israel, but basically the whole Near East could be at risk especially Cairo in Egypt and Turkey. A missile could also reachAfrica as far as Djibouti if fired from the extreme South of the country. All the ex-soviet republics of Central Asia, Afghanistan and the extreme West of China, as well as Pakistan and the North-west of India (including New Delhi and Mumbai) are also at range.

 

h/t to French journalist Jean-Dominique Merchet and his blog on Libération who concludes "one certainly understands why this is worrying to a lot of people".

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Echoing to my brief article on the situation in Somalia, I interviewed Roland Marchal, an expert on the politics of Africa. Hoping he could clear up some questions for us.

ICSR: Why do you think Al-Shabaab wanted to publicise its allegiance to Al-Qaeda despite its previous denials of any ties with the organisation?

Roland Marchal: Websites affiliated to al Shabaab have already sworn allegiance once or twice to Al-Qaeda and have received a positive response from Zahawiri.

In the current context, their latest video seems to be more like a distress call: Al-Shabaab is losing in Mogadishu and fears a more offensive behaviour of the AMISOM. This does not mean the latter will win or that the Transitional Federal Government would emerge as a credible alternative but the power struggle would be less visibly favourable to Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.

Al-Shabaab could also be weakened by the fight over the port of Kismayu (a very lucrative source of income for Al-Shabaab) against Ras Kamboni (likely to be supported by the CIA).

This umpteenth call to foreigners mostly underlines that the previous ones have been unsuccessful.

ICSR: Many say that the Somali president is the best chance to fight Al-Shabaab because he has a strong legitimacy and he is a religious man. What do you think?

Roland Marchal: Sheikh Sharif was indeed a popular personality especially within the Hawiye and appeared as a moderate figure, a good listener. I myself shared this appreciation but two elements have to be taken into account since February 2009.

On the one hand he has "inherited" the TFG and its illegitimacy and he has appeared much more dependent on "foreigners": AMISON, European Union, etc ... But the population because it hasn't seen any improvements and hasn't received any benefits from this connection, is now bitter (especially because some members of the government have helped themselves).

On the other hand, he has appeared much weaker and less political than expected: his political "brain" is his minister of Finance who seems to always agree with the last person he talks to and has missed several opportunities to improve the political climate.

ICSR: The UN food agency has recently published a report saying that Somalia was facing its worst food crisis in 18 years. Can one expect the Somali government to tackle the insurgency and the food crisis? What part can the international community play?

Roland Marchal: The TFG spends all his time focused on its own survival; it is true that this team is different from the former team and much more positive towards humanitarian workers: they do not impose any restriction, but this is also the case because they cannot do anything.

The International community must discuss directly humanitarian aid and the rest with the armed opposition. Without that war will happen. And nobody can win it.


Roland Marchal is a senior research fellow at the National Center of Scientific Research, based at the Center for International Studies and Researches, Paris. He was the chief editor of the French academic quarterly Politique africaine from 2002 to 2006. He has been researching and publishing on the conflicts and politics in Africa.

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Yesterday and for the first time, Somali Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda in a video which was spread through Jihadi blogs. In the video, militants can be seen shouting their support to Osama Bin Laden chanting: "At your service Osama!” and vow to avenge a US raid that killed one of their leaders this week.

Al-Shabaab militants have always officially denied links to al Qaeda and it is still unclear why this video was released at this particular time. But in the recent context of terrorist attacks by Islamist insurgents in the country, this video might be just another way for the insurgency to assert itself against the West. 

Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed  has been growing ties with the international community and the US has shown more interest and implication towards Somalia. Sharif met last month with Hillary Clinton, who pledged to expand American support for Somalia's government.

It may seem odd that the US would support a President who imposes the Sharia (Islamic law) on its people. But the US probably wouldn't back an Islamic President unless its legitimacy and credibility made him the strongest ally the Obama administration can have in the region. "Washington has [...] labelled him a moderate, despite his imposition of sharia law, and sent his forces 40 tonnes of weapons, while the international community has committed more than $200m to train Somali security services" reports Daniel Howden in The Independent.

Listen to this interview with Jeffrey Gettleman of the New York Times which explains why Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed is the best thing that has happened to Somalia for decades.

Also the UN has just released a report stating that Somalia is facing its worst food crisis in the last 18 years.

I'm sure the international community, as well as sending weapons, will help the Somali government fight this battle against hunger. Right?

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Barack Obama was heard on five US talk-shows yesterday saying that the strategy on Afghanistan had to be re-thought.

He was notably questioned on General McChrystal's report in which the top military commander in Afghanistan makes it very clear that unless additional troops are sent, the conflict "will likely result in failure."

President Obama however refused to say if he planned to send in more troops or not:

"We're going to test whatever resources we have against our strategy, which is if by sending young men and women into harm’s way, we are defeating Al Qaeda and, and that can be shown to a skeptical audience, namely me — somebody who is always asking hard questions about deploying troops, then we will do what’s required to keep the American people safe."

 

Now I am not going to argue here on what should be done. This, readers, is for YOU to debate.

On a more hopeful note, today is Peace Day.

McChrystal said that the troops will be on the defensive but "will not conduct offensive military operations [...] to observe the United Nations' International Day of Peace".

Afghan defence minister's spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi expressed that "the people of Afghanistan are more thirsty for peace than any other nation. They have experienced decades of war and they want peace now".

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Today Noordin Mohammad Top, often described as South East Asia most wanted terrorist was killed in a police shoot-out in Central Java. Some might say it has lifted a major security threat in the region but Rohan Gunaratna says the fight is not over yet.

ICSR:  Firstly, who was Noordin Mohammad Top?

Rohan Gunaratna: Noordin Mohammad Top was a Malaysian terrorist driven by al Qaeda's philosophy. He had been on the run since the devastating Bali bombing of October 2002 which was executed by Jemaah Islamiya and funded by al Qaeda.

In the years that followed, he emerged as the de-facto operational leader of Jemmah Islamiyah. He worked with multiple groups, clusters of cells and individuals, and built the most threatening network in the region.
 
After the J.W. Marriott and Ritz Carlton bombings in July 2009, the government intensified the hunt for Noordin Mohammad Top. It had been going on for eight years.

ICSR:  His death is a real success to them, then.

Rohan Gunaratna: Indeed, Detachment 88, Indonesia's elite Counter Terrorism Unit should be congratulated: they managed to hunt down and kill Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorist.

After capturing and interrogating his couriers, Rahmat Budi Prabowo alias Bejo and Supono alias Kedu of D88 tracked him down to Solo in Central Java, the nerve centre of Islamic radicalism in Indonesia.

The gun battle lasted eight hours starting at 11 p.m. on September 16. D88 strike team breached the safe house where Noordin Mohammad Top was hiding and killed him along with Aji, a master bomb maker, Urwah, a top recruiter and Susilo, a logistician.


ICSR:  International cooperation was crucial in this particular case. Which countries participated and how did they work together?
 
Rohan Gunaratna: There is extensive security and intelligence cooperation both within and outside the region.

Detachment 88 was created after the Bali bombing that killed 202 civilians including 88 Australians. Although Australia was reluctant to acknowledge it, without its initial and sustained assistance D88 would not have reached this level of competence.

Furthermore, the US, the UK, Singapore and other countries worked with D88 to build their specialist capabilities. Today, with extensive operational experience D88 trains other elite forces.
 
As intelligence is the spearhead of counter terrorism, there is excellent intelligence sharing between the countries affected by Jemaah Islamiyah. There is ongoing intelligence exchange between Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Australia. And because Jemaah Islamiyah's operational leader Hambali is in US custody, the US has also shared intelligence with all the regional partners.
 
Both operational and intelligence cooperation was central in neutralizing Noordin Mohammad Top: as long the threat is persistent this cooperation will continue.
 
ICSR:  What impact will Noordin Mohammad Top's death have on the terrorism network in the region?
 
Rohan Gunaratna: As Noordin Mohammad Top skillfully built and operated a network, he will be replaced by a multiplicity of leaders. None of them will have the skill and the experience of Noordin Mohammad Top but they will pose a long term strategic and national threat to Indonesia and the region.   

However Noordin Mohammad Top's death should not lull Indonesia into a state of complacency. Ideologues of hatred like Abu Bakar Bashir, the co founder of Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Jibril, the leader of Majlis Mujahidin Indonesia (Mujahidin Council of Indonesia) are still active.

Unless Indonesia has the will and skill to dismantle the ideological and operational infrastructure of Jemmah Islamiya and other likeminded groups, Indonesia will continue to suffer from periodic terrorist attacks.

This means not only hunting and killing terrorists but building a legal framework that criminalizes terrorist propaganda, recruitment, fund raising and other support activities that enable and facilitates terrorism, and its parent, ideological extremism.


 

Rohan Gunaratna is the author of Inside al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror published by Columbia University Press. He debriefed detainees in several countries including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, US and in Indonesia. He is the head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

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Today's big news is certainly the freeing of New York Times journalist Stephen Farrell, a British national, who was abducted four days ago in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. His interpreter Sultan Munadi (picture) an Afghan journalist who paired with Farrell to investigate the aftermath of a NATO air strike that killed at least 70 people, didn’t have the same luck and was killed during the raid.

Foreign journalists are often taken hostages with their local translator or driver. But where the journalist's life has a real bargaining value and is therefore more protected, it is a known fact that the interpreter's is often much more at stake.

As they were held hostage together, Sultan Munadi told Stephen Farrell, "I think you're going to be O.K., but they've got it in for me." The British journalist himself recalls: "I did not think they were going to kill me, I did think they were going to kill him." Eric Schmitt also recount Farrell’s words in the New York Times:

"While Mr. Farrell said he was treated well — given food, water and blankets and never harmed — the militants increasingly taunted Mr. Munadi. At one point one of the Taliban reminded Mr. Munadi of a case two years ago in which an Italian journalist taken hostage in Helmand Province was freed while his Afghan translator was beheaded."

There have been several other instances of such double-standards notably in Iraq and Afghanistan between foreigner and local lives. As such the tragic case of the kidnapping of an Italian journalist in 2007, who was kidnapped alongside his translator and eventually freed whereas his Afghan interpreter was beheaded by the abductors.

Several reasons can explain those double-standards.

Firstly, foreigners in general (NGO workers, journalists, etc.) have more value to the eyes of the kidnappers than the life of a local driver, journalist or translator.

Interpreters who work with foreigners are also more likely to be targeted by kidnappers or attacks as they are considered as traitors by the insurgency. At the beginning of the war in Iraq, AP considered translating Arabic to Americans "one of the most dangerous civilian jobs in one of the world's most dangerous countries".

Finally, Western governments are more prone to negotiating/paying ransoms to the kidnappers rather than having one of their nationals brutally executed abroad. When the kidnapped translator for an Italian journalist was killed, the Taliban 'spokesman' said at the time that:

"When we demanded the exchange for the Italian journalist, the government released the prisoners, but for the Afghan journalist, the government did not care."

Thus a question springs to mind: should the government of a kidnapped journalist also take responsibility for the local journalist, translator or driver who accompanies him? They certainly are essential in enabling journalists to do their job.

I'll leave you with this quote from Barry Bearak, a Times correspondent who worked with Mr. Munadi in 2001 and 2002:

"The story calls [Sultan Munadi] an 'interpreter,' which misleads the reader about what these great people do for us. They serve as our walking history books, political analysts, managers of logistics, taking equal the risks without equal the glory or pay."

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

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