Posted January 12, 2012
By Samara Greenberg
WASHINGTON, D.C. –Here are some news stories from around the world attracting attention in the nation’s capital.
Egypt
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns on Wednesday met with the head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), in the highest-level talks that Washington has thus far held with the victorious Islamist group after ending a long-standing ban on holding formal contacts with the Brotherhood last summer.
While the winners of the final stage of Egypt’s elections remain unknown, until now the Brotherhood’s FJP has garnered more than 40 percent of the seats that will fill the Egyptian Parliament’s lower house. That house, which will meet for the first time on January 23, is tasked with writing the new constitution. With their win, the Islamist groups are expected to have significant influence over the document’s content.
According to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, in Burns’ discussion with FJP, he reinforced U.S. expectations that Egypt’s new government will support human rights and maintain its treaty with Israel. After their talk, FJP head Mohammed Mursi called on Washington to adopt a “positive position concerning Arab and Muslim causes,” saying its policies in the past were “biased” — an apparent reference to the strong U.S.-Israel relationship.
The Brotherhood renounced violence long ago but still supports Hamas — last month calling it a role model — and the Palestinian armed conflict against Israel. As Michael Rubin notes, “By sitting down and talking to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Obama administration legitimizes the group and the violence which has propelled it to prominence.” Rather than openly declare its policy of engaging the Brotherhood, the administration could have held closed-door discussions that would be just as effective in creating a relationship but without legitimizing the movement that is opposed to so many issues that are in America’s interest.
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Iran
Magnetic bombs attached to a car by motorcyclists in Iran killed two people on Wednesday, including Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan — a university professor, chemistry expert, and director at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
According to the BBC’s Mohsen Asgari, the explosion was caused by a targeted device intended to strike only one or two people and not be heard from a distance. The car that was hit remained virtually intact. As was to be expected, Iranian officials were quick to blame Israel. According to the deputy governor of Tehran, Safarali Baratloo: “The bomb was…the same as the ones previously used for the assassination of the scientists, and the work of the Zionists.”
The car hit by a bomb in Iran that killed Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan.
Indeed, the attack follows other similar assassinations and explosions targeting Iran’s nuclear sector that seems to comprise a larger covert operation to halt Iran’s atomic program. Since June 2009, four Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in attacks and a number of others hurt or kidnapped. Even more people have been killed in explosions at facilities linked to the nuclear program.
According to controversial blogger Richard Silverstein, a “confidential Israeli source” confirmed that the Mossad was behind the bombing with the help of the Kurdish militant organization, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), which opposes the current Islamic regime. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency quickly republished Silverstein’s words.
However, as with the previous attacks, there is no knowing the culprit. Iran is currently experiencing internal unrest, and reports have even suggested that members within the Revolutionary Guards are interested in overthrowing its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As this blog previously mentioned, the Iranian regime is not short of enemies. Like its Arab neighbors, it may come to face serious problems this year.
In another development,Iran began enriching uranium to a fissile purity of 20 percent at the Fordo nuclear site near the holy Shiite city of Qom, diplomatic sources said Monday, bringing it closer to further refining uranium to the 90 percent purity required for nuclear weapons.
For months, Tehran has said it was planning to move its highest-grade uranium refinement work to Fordo from the plant at Natanz, since the former offers better protection against any enemy attacks. It now has. The Fordo facility is a hardened tunnel built next to a military complex and protected by air defense missile batteries and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. According to Iran’s nuclear chief, Fereidoun Abbasi: “the enemy doesn’t have the ability to damage it.” Of course, that is one of Israel and America’s greatest concerns.
Satellite image of the Fordo site under construction in 2009.
The news of activity at Fordo comes as tension between Iran and the U.S. is on the rise. On December 31, President Obama signed into law new sanctions against Iran that cuts off foreign financial institutions from the U.S. economy if they do business with Iran’s central bank, Bank Markazi, through which about half of Iran’s oil transactions are routed. In response, Iran threatened to take action if a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier moves into the Gulf. Last month, Tehran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, and shortly thereafter held naval exercises. Its next round of drills will practice closing the Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian lawmaker recently said.
Those looking for positive payouts from America’s diplomatic engagement with Iran will no doubt be disappointed. A rocky road lays ahead.
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U.S.A.
A naturalized American citizen born in Kosovo was arrested Saturday on charges of planning to attack Tampa-area nightclubs and a sheriff’s office, federal authorities said Monday. Sami Osmakac, arrested on the day he was set to carry out his attacks, bought disabled explosive devices and firearms from an undercover FBI agent with the intent of creating “mayhem” by killing innocent people to avenge wrongs done to Muslims, according to reports.
According to the complaint, last September a source informed the FBI that Osmakac entered his/her business looking to purchase flags that represent al-Qaeda. In November, Osmakac and the source identified potential targets to attack. The source then directed the Kosovo native to an undercover FBI agent for assistance in obtaining weapons; Osmakac reportedly asked for an explosive belt, grenades, an AK-47, an Uzi, and high-capacity ammunition magazines. When the undercover agent told Osmakac that he still had time to back out of the plot, Osmakac reportedly said, “We all have to die, so why not die the Islamic way?”
According to an FBI and Homeland Security bulletin, Osmakac’s target and tactics differ from other recent homegrown terror incidents, which have primarily targeted military and government facilities. Osmakac apparently chose to attack civilian targets, which are less secure and can result in a greater number of casualties. It is not believed that Osmakac is connected to any foreign terrorist organization.
The uncovering of this plot is a somber reminder that, even as the U.S. winds down its war against terror abroad, the war against ‘lone wolf’ terrorists and extremists inside the country will carry on, if not continue to expand.
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Samara Greenberg is a Senior Research Associate at the Jewish Policy Center and Deputy Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly. Her writings may be found at www.jewishpolicycenter.org