Headlines:

• Netherlands, Germany Alarmed over Jihadis Returning from Conflict Zones
• Burma: Buddhist Torch Mosques
• US and Afghanistan Reach Deal on Pullout of American Special Forces
• China, Pakistan Reach Secret Nuclear Reactor Deal for Pakistan
• North Korea Threatens to Bomb U.S. Bases in Japan, Guam

Details:

Netherlands, Germany Alarmed over Jihadis Returning from Conflict Zones:

The Dutch government raised its terror threat last week amid concerns that Dutch citizens travelling to Syria to fight in the civil war could return battle-hardened, traumatized and further radicalized. The government cited the threat posed by jihadist fighters returning from Syria, where rebels are battling government forces, and signs of increasing radicalization among Dutch youth as key reasons for lifting its threat level from "limited" to "substantial." The level is now the second-highest on the four-step scale, just below "critical." "The chance of an attack in the Netherlands or against Dutch interests abroad has risen," the country's National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism said in a statement.  The warning comes just two months before hundreds of thousands of people are expected to descend on Amsterdam for mass celebrations for the abdication of Queen Beatrix and coronation of her son, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander. Counterterrorism chief Dick Schoof said nearly 100 people had travelled from the Netherlands to Africa and the Middle East, mainly to Syria, to fight and warned that it was not just a Dutch problem. "These jihadist travellers can return to the Netherlands highly radicalized, traumatized and with a strong desire to commit violence, thus posing a significant threat to this country," Schoof said in his statement.  He said several fighters had already returned to the Netherlands and were being monitored. Government terror experts also say political upheaval in North Africa and the Mideast were giving terror networks room to grow. Schoof said Dutch intelligence and law enforcement agencies were working with other European allies to contain the threat. More intelligence staff are monitoring "jihadist travellers" and police are stepping up efforts to tackle radicalization in Dutch towns and cities. Last month, France also expressed concerns about its citizens heading to Mali to join radical Islamic fighters there, even as the French army was fighting the Muslim militants in its former colony. French police arrested four youths last month suspected of trying to join radical Islamic fighters in West Africa and expelled radical imams and others considered risks to public order.  Germany's Interior Ministry also said that in 2012, 220 people from across Europe went to Syria to fight. Of those, fewer than 10 were from Germany. The majority of German jihadist travellers picked Egypt as their first destination in 2012, and then travelled on either to Mali, Syria or Yemen, according to German intelligence information.

 

Burma: Buddhist Torch Mosques:

A lawmaker says at least 20 people have died in two days of rioting between Buddhists and Muslims in a central Myanmar town where residents remained locked in their homes, too afraid to walk the streets. Opposition National League for Democracy lawmaker Win Htein told The Associated Press by telephone Friday that at least five mosques were burned down since the violence started Wednesday in the town of Meikhtila. He said there was no immediate sign of fresh violence but the situation remained tense. He said fires continued to burn but angry Buddhist residents and monks prevented authorities from putting out fires set to Muslim homes. The violence was the latest sectarian unrest after clashes in western Rakhine state last year left more than 200 dead.

 

US and Afghanistan Reach Deal on Pullout of American Special Forces:

The US military and the Afghan government have reached a deal on the pullout of American special operations forces and their Afghan counterparts from a strategic eastern province after complaints that they were involved in human rights abuses. The agreement calls for the US-led coalition to withdraw the special operations forces from Wardak's Nirkh district, the area where the abuses allegedly occurred, along with the Afghan forces who work with them, as they are replaced by the Afghan army or national police. The rest of the province would "transition over time," according to a statement. A US military official confirmed that, saying that a small, mostly US army special operations team and the Afghan troops working with them would withdraw from Nirkh.

 

China, Pakistan Reach Secret Nuclear Reactor Deal for Pakistan:

China and Pakistan reached a formal agreement last month to construct a third nuclear reactor at Chashma that the Obama administration says will violate Beijing's promises under an international anti-nuclear weapons accord. According to U.S. intelligence and diplomatic officials, the secret agreement for the Chashma 3 reactor was signed in Beijing during the visit by a delegation from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission from Feb. 15 to 18. The agreement calls for the state-run China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) to construct a 1,000-megawatt power plant at Chashma, located in the northern province of Punjab, where two earlier Chinese reactors were built. China's government last month issued an internal notice to officials within its nuclear establishment and to regional political leaders urging care to avoid any leaks of information about the nuclear sale that Beijing expects will be controversial, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. The reactor deal had been in the works for several years and prompted high-level U.S. government efforts to block the sale because of concerns it will boost Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. The CNNC is China's main nuclear weapons producer and has been linked in the past to Pakistan's nuclear arms program by U.S. intelligence agencies. CNNC sold thousands of ring magnets to Pakistan during the 1990s that were used in centrifuges that produced highly enriched uranium for weapons. Additionally, recent U.S. intelligence reports indicate that China, which supplied Pakistan with nuclear weapons design data and technology, is in the process of modernizing Islamabad's nuclear arsenal, which is estimated to contain as many as 110 warheads. The arms cooperation is said to include development of a new warhead for Pakistan's growing missile arsenal as well as assistance in reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. A Congressional Research Service report published Feb. 13 stated, "Pakistan's nuclear arsenal probably consists of approximately 90-110 nuclear warheads, although it could be larger."

 

North Korea Threatens to Bomb U.S. Bases in Japan, Guam:

North Korea has threatened to launch a nuclear attack on US bases in Japan and Guam after Washington used B-52 bombers in a joint military drill with the South. The threat came one day after Pyongyang condemned the use of the nuclear-capable bombers in the drills as "unpardonable provocation". The aircraft are based at Andersen Air Force base in the Pacific island of Guam and flew over South Korea as part of annual joint exercises, while missile-carrying attack submarines can operate out of Japanese ports.

 

 

Abu Hashim