By Bill Roggio, Threat Matrix @ longwarjournal.org, Jan. 20, 2014
The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan killed 31 soldiers and Frontier Corps troops, as well as five civilians, in a pair of attacks in the country over the past two days.
New details fuel debate over security at the Winter Olympic Games: Wanted posters of a terror suspect, U.S. warships at the ready and a video threat from beyond the grave
By Joseph Netto, Barbara Starr and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN.com, Jan. 20, 2014
Police in Sochi have handed out fliers at area hotels warning of a woman they believe could be a terrorist and who may currently be in the city [....]
Senior war crimes prosecutors say photographs and documents provide 'clear evidence' of systematic killing of 11,000 detainees Read the Syria report in full
By Ian Black, Middle East editor, The Guardian, 20 Jan., 2014
By John Cassidy, Rational Irrationality @ newyorker.com, Jan. 16, 2014
Home page lede: Don't Trust Obama on Surveillance. Having run for office as a strident critic of Bush’s intelligence ambitions, the President has emerged as the most prominent enabler and defender of the system.
By Liam Stack, The Lede @ nytimes.com, Jan. 14, 2014
Homosexual sex is illegal in Nigeria, where in some states ruled by Islamic law gay people can be legally stoned to death. Still, the government in recent weeks has decided to crack down on gay Nigerians both harshly and in secret, arresting dozens of suspected gay men in the country’s north and signing into law a sweeping measure that punishes gay marriage and even the formation of gay associations or clubs with as many as 14 years in prison.
After crushing the Muslim Brotherhood at home, Egypt's military rulers plan to undermine the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which runs the neighboring Gaza Strip, senior Egyptian security officials told Reuters.
By Julian Pecque, Global Affairs blog @ The Hill, Jan. 13, 2014
The House released a $49 billion funding bill for 2014 on Monday that restores $1.5 billion in annual aid to Egypt that was partly suspended after the military ousted the country's democratically elected president last summer.
By Kevin Bogardus and Ben Goad, The Hill, Jan. 12, 2014
Nothing less than the boundaries of executive power are at stake Monday, as the Supreme Court considers whether President Obama violated the Constitution during his first term.
Oral arguments slated for Monday will center on a trio of recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that were deemed unconstitutional by lower courts. If they uphold the decision, experts say the justices could endanger hundreds of NLRB decisions.
By Ariana Eujung Cha, Washington Post, Jan. 11, 2014
[....] While some cancellation notices already have gone out, insurers say the bulk of the letters will be sent in October, shortly before the next open-enrollment period begins. The timing — right before the midterm elections — could be difficult for Democrats who are already fending off Republican attacks about the Affordable Care Act and its troubled rollout.
A French magazine's exposé into the French President's love-life marks a departure from the country's previous nonchalance over the peccadilloes of its premiers
[....] The Greenpeace activists went home to their respective countries; Khodorkovsky went to Germany, into what appears to be involuntary exile. Only Alyokhina, 25, and Tolokonnikova, 24, remain in Russia, speaking out. Their message is: Do not buy the newly varnished façade. Russia is continuing to abuse the rights of its own people in ways most cannot even imagine. And anyone who goes to the Olympics, whether as an athlete, a spectator, or an official, in effect condones these abuses. [....]
By Spencer Ackerman in Washington, theguardian.com, 10 Jan., 2014
The National Security Agency and its allies are making a final public push to retain as much of their controversial mass surveillance powers as they can, before President Barack Obama’s forthcoming announcement about the future scope of US surveillance.
By Rick Gladstone and Thomas Erdbrink, New York Times, Jan. 9/10, 2014
Iran’s supreme leader harshly denounced the United States on Thursday as negotiations to conclude an interim agreement in the Iranian nuclear dispute resumed, saying those talks illustrated what he called the hostility of Americans toward Iran and the Muslim world.
The remarks by the leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reported by Iran’s official news media, covered a range of grievances against the United States [....]
By Robert Mackey, The Lede @ nytimes.com, Jan. 8, 2014
Israel’s defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, denounced a campaign of attacks on Palestinian civilians and property by extremist Israeli settlers as “outright terror” on Wednesday, after two cars were set on fire with Molotov cocktails and Hebrew graffiti — reading “price tag” and “Esh Kodesh revenge” — was sprayed on the walls of a West Bank village.
The vandalism took place in early morning near the village of Qusra, in apparent retaliation for an incident there the day before [....]
