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| Apnar dinti kamon jabe? Posted: 27 Jul 2011 06:32 PM PDT |
| Separatists behind most of terror strikes in Europe Posted: 27 Jul 2011 06:32 PM PDT 
Contrary to popular impression that Europe is being over run by migrants and that this has opened the way for both Islamist fundamentalist terrorists to flourish, data collected by the European Police Organization (Europol) shows that they are very minor players in the terrorism stakes. Between 2007 and 2010, there were just 6 incidents of terrorist strikes by Islamist groups. While extreme rightwing groups like the neo- Nazis have gained some ground in Europe, there were only five terrorist acts carried out by them in the past four years. Overall, there has been a declining trend in the number of terrorist acts in Europe, from 581 incidents in 2007 to 249 in 2010. The numbers include foiled and failed attempts also. Most of these incidents are bombings or gun strikes but the casualties were generally very low — till the Oslo bombing-cum-shooting. The largest number of terror plots and acts were carried out by various separatist groups, and they were mostly concentrated in France and Spain. Since 2007, these groups carried out an astonishing 1326 different acts of terror. These separatists are either fighting for independence in Europe itself (as ETA of Spain) or their struggles are in distance corners of the world – Columbia, Kurdistan – but they want to draw attention to it by carrying out an outrage in Europe. According to Europol, there has been a rise in Leftwing terrorist actions in recent years — more than doubling from 21 incidents in 2007 to 45 in 2010. This is being driven by the recent recession and resulting anger and discontent among large sections of people. Some of the incidents — about nine in the last four years — were carried out by single-issue organizations. They are small groups fighting for one issue only, the most widespread being animal rights. Called animal-rights extremists (AREs) they carry out bombings of scientific labs, abattoirs and companies involved in fur trade. |
| Breivik: Bad man from crime fiction? Posted: 27 Jul 2011 06:30 PM PDT 
NEW DELHI: Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik would have been perfectly at home in a book of Scandinavian crime fiction. He is the archetype of the villains that infest this genre of books hugely popular for their realistic portrayal of modern-day evil — bloodlessly brutal, neo-Nazi , anti-immigrant and misogynist to boot. For, ever since the leftleaning writer couple Pers Wahloo and Maj Sjowall set off the trend of strong, politically and socially loaded crime writing in Scandinavia, a bulk of the villains have been men like Breivik. There are several instances of how unnervingly closely the writings of Scandinavian crime writers resemble real life and often ended up foretelling tragedies to come. In Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series, one of the antagonists is the booted, violent, supremacist 'Prince' Tom Waaler. A trigger-happy vigilante cop, the agenda of his gun- running gang is to 'eliminate' the 'human detritus' . "Unfortunately we live in a country that is so rich at the moment that the politicians compete with each other to be the most open handed. We've become so soft and nice that no one dares take the responsibility for doing unpleasant things any more," he says of his plans to 'eliminate' the 'human detritus', sentiments that echo Breivik's right-wing rants. Given the sense of disbelief and grief most Norwegians feel about the presence of murderous right wings cells in their midst, the critically acclaimed Nesbo is not willing to comment on the prescience of his work. His agency , Salomonsson, says the author is not responding to requests for comments. Henning Mankell has been consistently writing about the rise of intolerant anti-immigrant, racist vigilante groups in Sweden. In The Return of the Dancing Master, for instance, his villain is a Nazi sympathizer. The Vanger family which sets off the chain of chilling events in Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has a dark Nazi past and connections with revivalist groups. Larsson himself was part of a very vocal campaign against neo-Nazis and led a life that many believe bore a close resemblance to Julian Assange and his Wikileaks. The more recent noir works by the Roslund-Helstrom duo centre around the brutalizing of migrants, especially women. Swedish author Haken Nesser says he can only express his horror at the killings. "What happened in Norway is a big tragedy, but I have no adequate comments about it. I just feel very, very sorry for all the people who are suffering from what this lunatic did," he says. Swedish thriller writer Zac O' Yeah who has made Bangalore his home says that right wing nuts make for favourite villains in Nordic crime writing because of the strong post-war Social Democratic tradition that came up in opposition to the Nazism. |
| Britain recognises Libya rebels, expels Muammar Gaddafi's envoys Posted: 27 Jul 2011 06:35 AM PDT 
LONDON: Britain recognised Libya's rebel council as the country's sole legitimate government on Wednesday after dramatically expelling all remaining staff loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from the London embassy. Foreign Secretary William Hague said he had invited the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) to take over the embassy and appoint an official envoy in a major boost for the movement fighting Gaddafi's regime. A group of rebel supporters unfurled the red, black and green flag of the Libyan opposition outside the embassy after Hague's announcement, although the Gaddafi regime's green flag was still flying from the building itself. "The prime minister and I have decided that the United Kingdom recognises and will deal with the National Transitional Council as the sole governmental authority in Libya," Hague told a news conference in London. "We are inviting the National Transitional Council to appoint a new Libyan diplomatic envoy to take over the Libyan embassy in London." He added: "In line with that decision we summoned the Libyan charge d'affaires to the foreign office on Wednesday and informed him that he and the other regime diplomats from the Gaddafi regime must leave the UK." Britain is one of the lead nations in a NATO-led alliance that has been carrying out an aerial campaign against Gaddafi's regime since March, when the UN approved action to protect civilians. Britain's move comes nearly two weeks after the Libya contact group, a group of major Western and regional powers, recognised the the NTC as Libya's legitimate government. |
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