. Romania
- Romania has no plans to pull its more than 800 troops out of Iraq and
hopes last weekend's constitutional referendum will lead to stability, Foreign
Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu said on Monday October 17, 2005. The former
communist state is a staunch ally of the United States.
- Romania plans to withdraw its 890 troops from Iraq by the end of this year, Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu said on Thursday June 29, 2006. The Iraq mission is too costly for the poor ex-communist country. It was also unpopular with many Romanians.
- Romania's Supreme Defence Council on Friday June 30, 2006, rejected plans backed by the prime minister to pull the country's troops out of Iraq by the end of this year. President Traian Basescu said, however, that Romania has negotiated with Western allies a reduction of Romania's 890 troops to 628.
- President Traian Basescu said on April 8, 2010, that Romania will increase
its troop levels in Afghanistan to 1,800 from 1,073 by September. The extra
troops will increase security for Romanian troops already in the country.
He says the decision was made last month at a high-level defence meeting.
. Russia
- At the end of March 2003 it was obvious that the war in Iraq had disrupted
the USA/Russian strategic arms control negotiations. Moreover Russia has
delayed the ratification of a seminal US-Russian arm treaty by using the
war in Iraq as an excuse.
- Russia dismissed on April 13, 2003, reports of collaboration between its
foreign intelligence service and the feared Iraqi secret service mukhabarat,
According to these sources Russia would have been involved in espionage
training of Iraqis as well as passing sensitive information about Blair's
meeting with the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi. It is well known
that Russia and Iraq had close relations but these accusations seem more
propaganda that anything else.
- On January 9, 2004, the USA revealed -as if it was not known- that Russia
sold Saddam Hussein high-tech military equipment that were used against
the American forces during the invasion. Some of these are night-vision
goggles, advanced anti-tank missiles and radar-jamming equipment.
- On June 18, 2004, President Putin said for the first time that before
the invasion of Iraq, Russian intelligence found out that Iraq was preparing
terrorist attacks in the USA. Putin added that Russia intelligence services
informed their American counterparts.
- On July 24, 2004, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow will
not send any peacekeeping troops to Iraq, but is willing to assist Baghdad
in other ways. Mr. Lavrov spoke after meeting with Iraq's interim foreign
minister in Moscow. Lavrov said Russia is looking for ways to help Iraq
economically, such as with business training programs in the oil industry.
He also says Moscow will accept to restructure Iraq's international debt
through the Paris Club of creditor nations.
- On September 30, 2004, the Russian government has approved the Kyoto Protocol
on climate change. Until now, Moscow has wavered over the treaty, which
cannot come into force without Russian ratification. The Kyoto Protocol
sets targets for greenhouse gas emissions, which many scientists believe
cause global warming and climate change. The European Union and environmental
campaigners greeted Moscow's decision with delight. The Russian parliament
must approve it and the treaty could come into force within three months.
- President Vladimir Putin said on February 18, 2005, he is convinced Iran
is not trying to build nuclear arms. He said Moscow would continue working
with Tehran in all fields, including nuclear power. Moscow is helping Iran
build a nuclear. Iran insists its nuclear development programme is purely
for peaceful, energy-generating, purposes. Moscow will supply Tehran with
the nuclear fuel it needs and the spent fuel will be returned to Russia.
- On February 27, 2005, Russia and Iran signed an agreement for Moscow to
supply fuel to Iran's new nuclear reactor in Bushehr. Under the deal Iran
must return spent nuclear fuel rods from the reactor designed and built
by Russia. The clause is a safeguard meant to remove fears that Iran might
misuse the rods to build nuclear weapons.
- On December 2, 2005, the Bush administration is investigating a report
that Russia sold surface-to-air missile to Iran lately.
- On December 5, 2005, Russia confirmed that has sold earth-to-air short-range
missiles to Iran. The US criticised the deal.
- Russia provided Saddam Hussein with intelligence on US military moves
in the opening days of the US-led invasion in 2003, a Pentagon report said
on March 24, 2006. One piece of intelligence passed on was false, and helped
a key US deception effort.
- On March 25, 2006, Russia has denied providing Saddam Hussein with intelligence
on US military moves in the opening days of the US-led invasion in 2003.
A US Pentagon report said Russia passed details through its Baghdad ambassador.
One piece of intelligence passed on was false, and in fact helped a key
US deception effort. The report also quoted an Iraqi memo, which mentioned
Russian "sources" at the US military headquarters in Qatar.
- Bush administration officials on March 27, 2006, said they will ask Russia
about captured documents that say the Russian ambassador in Iraq gave intelligence
about US military strategy to Saddam Hussein during the March 2003 invasion.
Hadley and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in separate interviews
that they haven't reached any conclusions about whether the report is true.
- In a press conference on July 15, 2006, Bush, as usual, only saw things not farther than his nose and blamed president Putin of Russia for a decrease -according to Bush- of democracy in Russia and suggested to adopt democracy's American style. President Putin pounced on the reference to Iraq: "We, of course, don't want to have a democracy like the one in Iraq, to be honest," he deadpanned, to laughter from Russian-speaking listeners.
- On October 25, 2006, President Putin said he would not try to run for office again when his term ends in 2008, but said he would try to continue to influence political affairs.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticised the United States on February 10, 2007, for what he said was its "almost uncontained" use of force around the world. Washington's "very dangerous" approach to global relations was fuelling a nuclear arms race, he told a security summit in Munich.
- A Russian former KGB officer should be charged with the murder by poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, the UK's director of public prosecutions has recommended on May 22, 2007. Mr Litvinenko also an ex-KGB agent and a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in London last November. Mr Lugovoi denied any involvement and said the charges against him were "politically motivated"; the Kremlin said he would not be extradited.
- The man suspected of poisoning ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko said on May 31, 2007, it could not have happened without the involvement of British secret services. Andrei Lugovoi, who denies killing Mr Litvinenko, told a Moscow news conference that he was a scapegoat. Mr Lugovoi said MI6 had recruited Mr Litvinenko and had also tried to recruit him, to collect information on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- US President George W Bush said on June 5, 2007, Russia has nothing to fear from a missile defence system to be built by the US, partly in Eastern Europe. Mr Bush said the Cold War was over and Russia was not an enemy of the US. Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to aim weapons at Europe if the shield is set up, in comments seen as reminiscent of Cold War rhetoric.
- On June 15, 2007, we were told that Russia is to investigate alleged British spying on its territory after claims made by the prime suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. A spokesman for the Federal Security Service (FSB) said a criminal case had been opened based on remarks and extra information given by Andrei Lugovoi. Mr Lugovoi accused Mr Litvinenko, the ex-KGB agent poisoned in November 2006, of having contacts with British spies. The UK Embassy in Moscow said the murder was not an intelligence matter.
- On July 14, 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended the application
of a key Cold War arms control treaty. Mr Putin signed a decree citing "exceptional
circumstances" affecting security as the reason for the move. The US
said it was "disappointed" by Russia's decision but would "continue
to have discussions with them in the coming months" on how to proceed.
- Russia agreed to write off $12 billion of Iraqi debt on February 11, 2008.
Russian companies including OAO Lukoil may invest as much as $4 billion
in Iraq under a cooperation agreement also signed today. The debt write-off
is part of a deal reached in 2004 with the Paris Club, a group of creditor
nations including the US, Canada and the U.K., in which Russia and other
countries promised to forgive 80 percent of Iraq's debt following the US-led
invasion.
- The Russian government has agreed to let American troops and weapons bound for Afghanistan fly over Russian territory we were told on Friday July 3, 2009. The arrangement will provide an important new corridor for the United States military as it escalates efforts to win the eight-year war. The agreement, to be announced when President Obama visits here on Monday and Tuesday, represents one of the most concrete achievements in the administration's effort to ease relations with Russia after years of tension. But the two sides failed to make a trade deal or resolve differences over missile defence, and are struggling to draft a preliminary nuclear arms deal.
- Allegations that Moscow ran a spy ring in the US are baseless and a throwback to the Cold War, a Russian foreign ministry official said on Tuesday June 29, 2010. The claims had set back attempts by President Barack Obama to reset ties with Moscow. The response comes a day after 10 people were arrested in the US. They are accused of conspiracy to act as unlawful agents of a foreign government, a crime which carries up to five years in prison. Eight also face a charge of conspiracy to launder money. An 11th suspect, named as Christopher R Metsos, was arrested on Tuesday on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The 11 were allegedly part of an operation where agents posed as ordinary citizens, some living together as couples for years. In security circles such agents are known as "illegals" or "sleepers".
- Four Russians decided to take a motorcycle trip in Iraq, but their adventure took a turn for the worse when they were arrested by security forces and were allegedly beaten and accused of spying. They crossed Kurdistan and entered the province of Diyala. In Diyala, they were arrested. One of them managed to contact our embassy, saying they were strongly beaten and accused of espionage. But they are simply ... bikers; they are not spies. The four bikers were initially detained on Saturday May 19, 2012, by an Iraqi military patrol and released after intervention by the Russian embassy. They were detained for a second time on Sunday on the outskirts of Baghdad after failing to apply for the necessary travel documents.
- A Soviet soldier who disappeared more than 30 years ago on the battlefield in Afghanistan has been found alive and well and living under the name of Sheikh Abdullah in the western Afghan city of Heart we were told on March 5, 2013. Russian officials attempting to trace soldiers still missing from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan said they had discovered Bakhretdin Khakimov, last seen in September 1980. Khakimov -then aged 20- had been serving with the 101st motorised rifle unit, stationed near Herat. He was seriously wounded during a battle near the city and presumed dead. Local residents rescued Khakimov from the battlefield and treated his wounds with herbs. The Soviet soldier remained with the man who helped him, and acquired medical skills. Khakimov -an ethnic Uzbek, originally from Samarkand- married a local Afghan woman and settled in the Shindand district. His wife later died. The couple had no children. ---
- A senior Russian intelligence official on Friday April 10, 2015, warned of the potential influence of the Islamic State group inside Russia, primarily among the Muslims in the North Caucasus provinces. An estimated 1,700 Russian nationals have joined the Islamic State group to fight in Syria and Iraq but the actual figure is likely to be even higher. At least five militants who came back after fighting in Syria were killed in security sweeps last year. President Putin said last month that one of its top priorities should be tracking Russian citizens who have left to fight alongside ISIS.
- Vladimir Putin has defended his decision to approve the delivery of the Russian long-range S-300 air-defence missile system to Iran, saying a ban imposed in 2010 was voluntary. The Russian president said on Thursday April 16, 2015, that his decision this week to lift the ban did not contradict international sanctions against Iran, which are still in place despite a framework agreement struck this month between Iran and six world powers over Iran’s nuclear programme. Putin said the S-300 was a defensive weapon that should not pose any threat to Israel, and may in fact serve as “a deterrent factor in connection with the situation in Yemen”. On Monday the US secretary of state, John Kerry, called his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to object to the move, and the US government said the delivery could complicate plans to eventually lift sanctions on Iran. The move also drew swift condemnation from the government of Israel. The missile contract was frozen in 2010 by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s then president, following pressure primarily from the US and Israel. The embargo followed the passage of UN security council resolution 1929 banning the sale to Iran of “battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles or missile systems”. Iran had already paid for the missile contract, signed in 2007, and sued for non-delivery. ---
After launching airstrikes in Syria, Russia is reportedly preparing to expand its air campaign in the Middle East to include Iraq. Moscow may carry out possible airstrikes "as soon as next week'' in an attempt to defeat terrorism and the ISIS in the entire region, including Iraq. Moscow is awaiting a more formal request from the Iraqi government before expanding its campaign targeting insurgents in the region.
On Tuesday October 6, 2015, we were told that Russia has launched rocket strikes on Islamic State group targets in Syria from warships in the Caspian Sea -about 1,500km away. Four warships fired 26 sea-based cruise missiles on 11 targets, destroying them and causing no civilian casualties. Meanwhile, Syrian ground troops have launched an offensive under Russian air cover.
On Sunday October 18, 2015, Russia said that its actions in Syria are in accordance with international law, and that should Iraq make a formal request for assistance in its fight against Islamic State (IS), Russia would consider it. Russia stressed that it is working specifically against IS, and not merely pro-Syrian regime. However it has a written request from Assad for a military and military-technical assistance in fighting IS. Senior Iraqi officials have made overtures towards the Russians, expressing dismay at the perceived lack of progress being made by the US-led coalition currently targeting the jihadists in Iraq.
On Wednesday November 4, 2015, we were told that Moscow's military force in Syria has grown to about 4,000 personnel, but this and more than a month of Russian air strikes have not led to pro-government forces making significant territorial gains. The Russians have suffered combat casualties, including deaths.
Russia has deployed antiaircraft missiles in Syria to protect its warplanes carrying out airstrikes against militants we were told Thursday November 5, 2015.
Russia is suspending all flights to Egypt following indications that last week's plane crash which killed all 224 people on board was caused by a bomb. President Vladimir Putin has also asked for up to 50,000 Russian holiday-makers currently in Egypt to be brought home. The UK has suspended flights to Sharm el-Sheikh and is flying Britons home. Intercepted militant "chatter" suggests a bomb was put in the hold before take-off and there was no technical failure.
Russia on Tuesday November 17, 2015, said that it was coordinating with the French military in sharply ratcheting up attacks on Syrian territory, especially areas held by the Islamic State, as the government for the first time acknowledged that a bomb had destroyed a Russian charter jet that crashed more than two weeks ago in Egypt.
President Obama said early Wednesday November 18, 2015, that he was open to cooperating with Russia in the campaign against the Islamic State, which has asserted responsibility for destroying the charter plane and for the deadly attacks in Paris on Friday, but only if the government of President Vladimir V. Putin begins targeting the militant group. ---
In the bitter debate over where a Russian warplane was flying when Turkish aircraft shot it down, the United States took Turkey's side Monday November 30, 2015, accepting that the available information indicates the warplane shot down last week was in Turkish airspace. Moscow has steadfastly maintained its jet was over Syria when it was downed.
The body of the Russian pilot who died after the jet was shot down along the Turkey-Syria border was flown back to Russia. Colonel Oleg Peshkov's body arrived Monday November 30, 2015, at the Chkalovsky military airport near Moscow. Peshkov will be buried in Lipetsk, Russia, as requested by his family.
Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday December 2, 2015, it had proof that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family were benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq. Moscow and Ankara have been locked in a war of words since last week when a Turkish air force jet shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Russian border, the most serious incident between Russia and a NATO state in half a century. Moscow displayed satellite images which they said showed columns of tanker trucks loading with oil at installations controlled by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and then crossing the border into neighbouring Turkey. The same criminal networks which were smuggling oil from Islamic State-held areas into Turkey were also supplying weapons, equipment and training to the militant group. The Russian air force's bombing campaign had made a significant dent in Islamic State's ability to produce, refine and sell oil. Erdogan last week denied that Turkey procures oil from anything but legitimate sources. He has said Ankara is taking active steps to prevent smuggling of fuel, and he challenged anyone who accused his government of collaborating with Islamic State to prove their allegations.
A Russian military adviser has been killed by mortar fire in Syria we were told Wednesday February 3, 2016. The officer was fatally wounded Monday by mortar shelling from the Islamic State group. The officer was helping train the Syrian military in using Russian weapons. The officer's death is the third combat casualty the Russian military has suffered since it launched its air campaign in Syria four months ago. A Russian pilot whose warplane was downed by a Turkish fighter at the Syrian border was shot dead by militants as he descended by parachute on November 24. His crewmate survived and was evacuated to safety, but a Russian marine was killed in action during the rescue mission. Moscow says its air campaign has targeted the IS and other extremists and rejects claims by the U.S. and its allies that moderate opposition groups also have been hit by Russian strikes. ---
Two Russian military pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed near Homs in Syria we were told Tuesday April 12, 2016; the aircraft had not been under fire. The crash takes Russia's official combat death toll in Syria to seven. The first five Russian servicemen perished while on combat duty in Syria, including the pilot of a warplane shot down by Turkey and a special operations officer who called an air strike on himself after being surrounded by ISIS militants near Palmyra. Another serviceman committed suicide while on duty in Syria.
A Russian soldier has died from wounds sustained during combat in Syria. He is the ninth military fatality since Russia launched an intervention in the country’s civil war in September, 2015. Anton Yerygin, a 31 year old signaller from Voronezh, was seriously wounded after coming under fire in Homs province. He died of his wounds in hospital two days after the attack. News of his death came amid unconfirmed reports that at least two other Russian soldiers have gone missing and may be being held by the Isil terror group
Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, won a record high number of seats in the Russian parliament in an election with the lowest turnout in the country’s post-Soviet history. While Sunday’s vote (September 18, 2016) showed some signs of hope for the Russian opposition to finally break into parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, the exit polls indicated a decisive victory for President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia. With all the votes counted Monday morning, United Russia won a staggering 343 seats in the 450 seat Duma. The previous record was set by United Russia itself in 2007, when it won 315 seats.
Russia vetoed a French-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution on Saturday October 9, 2016, that would have demanded an end to air strikes and military flights over Syria's city of Aleppo, while a rival Russian draft text failed to get a minimum nine votes in favour. Moscow's text was effectively the French draft with Russian amendments. It removed the demand for an end to air strikes on Aleppo and put the focus back on a failed September 9 U.S./Russia ceasefire deal, which was annexed to the draft. British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin: "Thanks to your actions today, Syrians will continue to lose their lives in Aleppo and beyond to Russian and Syrian bombing. Please stop now."
On Wednesday November 16, 2016, Vladimir Putin has decided to withdraw Russia from the International Criminal Court (ICC) amid calls for his military to be referred over air strikes backing President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the annexation of Crimea. Gambia, South Africa and Burundi also withdrew. ---
A Syria-bound Russian military plane crashed into the Black Sea Sunday December 25, 2016, with no sign of survivors among the 92 on board, including Red Army Choir members travelling to celebrate New Year with troops. The Tu-154 plane went down shortly after taking off from the southern city of Adler where it had been refuelling.
Following the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats by the Americans on Thursday December 29, 2016, Russia's foreign ministry had formally asked Mr Putin to expel 35 US envoys. Russia denies involvement in hacking related to the US election, calling US sanctions "ungrounded". Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev accused the outgoing US administration of President Barack Obama of ending in "anti-Russian death throes".
On Friday December 30, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin ruled out a tit-for-tat response after the US expelled 35 Russian diplomats amid a row over hacking. He said Russia would not "stoop" to the level of "irresponsible diplomacy" but would work to restore ties with the US under President-elect Donald Trump.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is ending 2016 on a high, with state polls showing his approval rating at nearly 87 percent —the highest it’s been all year, and only three points off his all-time record. Despite Russia’s financial crisis and controversy abroad, the Russian president continues to be personally the most trusted public official in the country.
However, the more the politics of post-Soviet Russia becomes about its ruler’s personal charm, the more Putin has to be all things to all Russians. In 2016 he went from sporty to sensitive; from commanding to communicative; from grizzled outdoorsman to aureate intellectual.
Russia has begun a drawdown of its military forces in Syria we were told Friday January 6, 2017. Russia’s naval fleet led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, which has been operating in the Mediterranean off the Syrian coast, would be the first to return from Syria. Putin said in December Russia had agreed to reduce its military deployment in Syria under the terms of a ceasefire deal between Syrian opposition groups and the Syrian government. ---
Russia Sunday September 3, 2018:
Russia Monday March 25, 2019:
. Serbia
- Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic was captured on Monday July 21,
2008. He was practising alternative medicine in a private clinic in a "very
convincing disguise", sporting a long white beard, and calling himself
Dragan Dabic and living in Serbia's capital, Belgrade. He was more than
a decade on the run. He is indicted by the UN tribunal for war crimes and
genocide over the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica. A judge has ordered Mr Karadzic's
transfer to the UN war crimes court in The Hague. Mr Karadzic's lawyer,
Sveta Vujacic, has said he will appeal against the ruling; he has three
days to do so.
. Slovakia
- On September 8, 2004, President Ivan Gašparovic talked with Defence
Minister Juraj Liška about the situation involving Slovak contingents
active in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was especially interested in the security
situation and the reported deficiencies in the technical, material, and
medical equipment at the disposal of Slovakia's soldiers. President Gašparovic
also spoke to Liska about the threat of global terrorism.
- Slovakia said on September 8, 2006 it plans a full military pullout from Iraq in about six months but will replace its soldiers with other forms of security assistance.
. South Korea
- On December 8, 2003, South Korea advised their firms to pull out of Iraq
and to stop working there until the security situation has improved. This
follows the killing of two Korean electricians near Tikrit on November 30.
- On January 15, 2003, President elect of South Korea, Roh Moo Hyun, visited
the US military headquarters in Seoul and told US General Leon LaPorte that
under his presidency, the South Korean politics will remain pro-American.
- On January 17, 2004, the USA agreed to pull out its 7,000 soldiers and
their families out of Seoul and to relocate them 45 miles south of Seoul.
The local population resents their presence in the capital of South Korea
since 1950/53.
- On November 12, 2004, we were told that South Korea produced some weapon-grade
uranium and plutonium. It is not clear yet how much but the truth will come
out.
- On December 30, 2005, the South Korea Parliament approved a plan to bring
home one third of their military contingent of 3,200 soldiers in Iraq. The
remaining 2,000 soldiers will stay one more year helping rebuilt a Kurdish
area.
- South Korean troops will end a five-year reconstruction mission, the latest departure from the dwindling US-led coalition. The South Koreans are among troops from 13 countries being sent home in advance of the December 31 expiration of the UN mandate that authorized military operations in Iraq. The South Koreans will begin leaving Wednesday December 3, 2008, and are all due to leave by December 20.
- STX Heavy Industries Co. signed an agreement on May 18, 2011, to install 25 power plants to generate a total of 2,500 megawatts in Iraq. The diesel-fired plants will be built within a total period of 13 months. The units are half of the 50 new 100-megawatt power plants planned by the Iraqi government at a cost of $6.25 billion. A group of South Korean companies won the contract for the first 25 installations on April 7. Iraq faces electricity shortages eight years after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted President Saddam Hussein and its generation and distribution network have suffered from decades of conflict, sanctions and sabotage. The country sought bids this year to build more than 60 power plants to add more than 14,000 megawatts to the grid. Iraq produces 7,000 megawatts and imports 1,000 megawatts while domestic demand totals about 14,000 megawatts.
. Spain
- Spanish Navy intercepted a ship carrying about 15 Scub missiles from
North Korea to Yemen on December 10, 2002. They are unhappy that Yemen is
buying these so-called defensive missiles from North Korea, but this is
a perfectly legal trade. The US is selling arms all over the world without
any restriction.
- On January 24, 2003, 16 men thought to be al-Qaida terrorists were arrested
in and near Barcelona. They could have some links with the ricin poison
case in Britain. Most of the men arrested are Algerians. They had explosives,
chemicals and false passports in their possession.
- On March 16, 2003, Spain arrested an alleged terrorist that has been linked
to al-Qaida. This man is accused of helping the authors of the attacks on
the USA on September 11, 2001. Yusuf Galan was invited once to a party by
the Iraqi ambassador in Spain under his al-Qaida "nom de guerre".
He had been trained in Afghanistan in a camp run by Osama bin Laden. His
arrest was very convenient too, as the Spanish government support actively
Blair and Bush in their war with Iraq, while the majority of the Spanish
public is against it. This looks more and more like stupid propaganda and
the more there is, the less it is credible.
- The Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, is facing a possible political disaster
as 91% of the Spanish are against the war at the end of March 2003.
- At the beginning of April 2003, the Spanish Prime Minister, José
Maria Aznar and his Popular Party are in deep trouble. Aznar is a declared
supporter of the war in Iraq while 90% of the Spanish population, as well
as many members pf his party, are absolutely opposed to it. There will soon
be local and regional elections and the Popular Party could come out of
them with heavy losses.
- An al-Jazeera war correspondent has been arrested in Spain on September
5, 2003, for suspicion of belonging to al-Qaida. He is the Syrian Tayseer
Alouni who also hold a Spanish passport. He is suspected of relaying secret
messages and money to al-Qaida operatives in Europe. Some Arab human rights
groups expressed their concern on September 7 and demanded his release.
Al-Jazeera asked the help of Amnesty International. He was released for
health problems on October 23, 2003.
- The Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, flew by helicopter from
Kuwait to Diwaniya, Iraq on December 20, 2003. There he met with the 1,300
Spanish soldiers for about four hours. His trip was kept secret until he
landed there.
- On March 11 2004, two and a half years after the September 11 2001 attacks
on the USA, 10 bombs exploded in four commuter trains in three stations
in Madrid. At least 200 people died and 1500 were wounded. Three other bombs
did not explode, if not the number of victims would even have been higher.
The attacks were well coordinated as all bombs exploded within about two
minutes of each other.
- Besides the three bombs that did not explode something else went wrong,
luckily. Bombs placed on two trains scheduled to arrive at the same time
at the main station should have blow up its roof, which by falling on the
people would have been a mega disaster. Fortunately one train was two minutes
late and its bombs exploded outside the station.
- The right wing government of Mr Aznar, afraid of the effect of the bombing
on the elections of March 14, accused immediately the Basque terrorist group
ETA although the scale of the attacks seemed to be outside their possibilities.
Even when some documents and mobile phones indicated that al-Qaida was certainly
involved, the government refused to change their story. Finally three Moroccans
and two Indians were arrested and the government had to accept that ETA
was not involved or, at least, not alone. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility.
- On Sunday March 14, 2004, the Spanish people voted Aznar's party, the
People's Party, out of power. The unpopularity of the war in Iraq (80 to
90% of the Spaniards are against it) helped the Socialists. The government
lost about 35 seats and the Socialist party led by Mr Zapatero will form
the next. Mr Zapatero said immediately that he will pull the Spanish soldiers
out of Iraq if the UN is not given full responsibility by June 30. He also
promised to realign Spain on Europe instead that on the USA.
- On March 14 it became known that three of the Muslim bombing suspects
have police records and one of them, Jamal Zougam, was accused of having
links with al-Qaida. He had been under surveillance by the police of France,
Spain and Morocco. In particular Morocco suspects him to have links with
the terrorist organisation Salafia Jihadia that organised the bomb attacks
in Casablanca in May 2003 when 44 people were killed. He is also believed
to be a follower of Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, the leader of an al-Qaida
cell in Madrid who is awaiting trial on charge of taking part in the September
11 2001 attacks in the USA. Why was he not arrested before? A Spanish witness
identified him as being near one of the bombed trains just before the explosions.
The other two Moroccans, Mohammed Bekkali and Mohammed Chaoui, and the Indians,
Vinay Kohly and Suresh Kumar, are accused of providing the mobile phone
used as a detonating device but it did not work. Search is going on for
a fourth Moroccan, Mohammed Bena.
- On March 19, three Moroccan and two Indian men were formally accused of
involvement in the bombings in Madrid. The three Moroccans were accused
of belonging to a terrorist group while the two Indians were accused of
selling the mobile phones used in the attacks to the Moroccans. Five other
suspects of North Africa origin have also been arrested.
- On March 15, 2004, the new prime minister of Spain, the Socialist Jose
Luis Rodriguez Zatapero, repeated that he would take the Spanish troops
out of Iraq if the UN does not take over from the Americans by June 30.
He also accused President Bush and Prime Minister Blair to have lied about
the war. These comments created some problems in the USA and Britain. Even
if Bush and Blair phoned him to express their congratulations for his victory.
If the inquiries show that al-Qaida was responsible for the bombing, then
Zapatero would be the first western leader owning his election to Osama
bin Laden and that March 14 would be seen in history as "the day when
Islamic fundamentalists dictated the results of an European election".
- The US administration was doing its best on March 16, 2004, to keep the
military coalition together after the bombing in Madrid and the possibility
that the new Spanish government decides to pull back its soldiers from.
In any case, until now, all the other countries of the coalition intend
to keep their troops in Iraq after June 30. No date has been decided for
their departure.
- On March 19, 2004, following the bomb attacks in Madrid, the EU Council
of Ministers decided to appoint a senior anti-terrorist coordinator. The
big countries refused Belgium's proposal to create a EU Intelligence Agency.
- European intelligence officials met on March 22, 2004. They wanted to
know how the terrorists obtained the 100kg of explosive used in the train
bombings. It is difficult to understand how they got it from Spanish quarries
without this being noticed. Four more people have been arrested on suspicion
of being involved in the attacks bringing to 14 the total number of suspects
arrested. Among them is a former Spanish quarry man, José Emilio
Suarez Trashorras, who is thought to be involved in the theft of explosive
in one or more quarries in Tineo near Orviedo.
- There was a memorial service in Madrid for the victims of the bomb attacks
of two weeks ago. The King and Queen of Spain were present together with
Prince Charles, Tony Blair, President Chirac, and many heads of states and
governments. Tony Blair met the future prime minister, José Luis
Rodriguez Zapatero, and tried, without success, to convince him not to pull
out the Spanish soldiers from Iraq. Without UN backing and UN having an
important role in Iraq after the power is handed over to the Iraqis on June
30, Spanish soldiers will be brought home.
- On April 2, 2004, the Spanish police discovered a 25-kilos unexploded
bomb on the railway line Madrid, Cordoba and Seville. The explosive was
the same -Goma 2 Eco- as that used in Madrid on March 11.
- In Madrid on April 3, 2004, the police searching for suspects of the recent
bomb attacks on trains found a hiding apartment in Leganès used by
the terrorists. Rather that surrendering the three suspects present blew
up a bomb killing themselves and one senior police officer, and wounding
possibly 15 others, some seriously. The apartment was completely destroyed
as well as part of the building. Among the dead was Sarhane Ben Abdelmajid
Fakhet who is assumed to be the leader of the group that attacked four trains
in Madrid on March 11.
- On April 8, 2004, the Spanish police said that the Madrid terrorists planned
other attacks. A video found in the apartment where members of the group
blew themselves up gave Spain a week to pull out its troops of Iraq and
Afghanistan. In it the terrorists said that they were members of Al Mufti
Brigade and Ansar al-Qaida.
- On April 18, 2004, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the new Prime
Minister, decided to pull the 1,300 Spanish soldiers out of Iraq "in
the shortest possible time". At least he looks like a Socialist prime
minister who can take sane decision. Obviously he is not a "boot-licker"
like Doggy Blair. The pulling-out of the Spanish soldiers will not change
much in Iraq -they are only a small percentage of the coalition troops-
bur Washington and London are afraid that other countries will follow.
- On April 19, 2004, the Shia cleric Moqdata al-Sadr asked his followers
not to attack the Spanish soldiers anymore after Spain decided to pull them
out of Iraq. Now it is clear that Honduras will follow Spain, and pull its
soldiers out too.
- On April 28, 2004, the Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzon, charged one of
the men wanted for Madrid train bombings, Moroccan Amer Azizi, with being
involved in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the USA. Azizi is said to
have organised a meeting in Spain a few weeks before September 11 between
the plotters and to had also provided lodging for the participants.
- On May 7, 2004, a lawyer and former army officer from Oregon, Brandon
Mayfield, who converted to Islam, was arrested. He is accused to be a material
witness to the al-Qaida train bombing in Madrid. His fingerprints were found
on materials related to the bombing.
- All the Spanish soldiers were home on Sunday May 23, 2004. The new prime
minister, Jose Luis Zapatero kept his electoral promise.
- On July 26, 2004, the Spanish government gave Australia a diplomatic dressing
down over a claim by that the Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer,
said that Madrid had encouraged militant extremism by withdrawing its forces
from Iraq. The Philippines are also withdrawing their troops from Iraq.
- On January 17, 2005, a Spanish judge, Baltazar Garzon, indicted eight
people on terrorist charges. They are accused of providing logistical help
and false documents to suspects in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the
USA.
- Three people have appeared in court in Spain on April 22, 2005, charged
with helping to plan the 11 September 2001 attacks. They include the alleged
head of an al-Qaida cell in Spain. He is accused of arranging a meeting
allegedly attended by one of the 19 attackers. Another man is charged with
filming the World Trade Centre and giving the tapes to militants before
the US attacks.
- Europe's largest trial of suspected al-Qaida members ended after ten weeks
in Madrid on July 6, 2005. A three-judge panel will now consider the case
against 24 Muslim men, three of whom are accused of helping plan the 11
September 2001 attacks in the US. The defendants include Syrian-born Immad
Yarkas, the alleged head of an al-Qaida cell in Spain. All 24 deny the charges.
The judges are expected to reach a verdict in mid-September.
- On January 13, 2006, the US forbid Spain to sell 12 military transport
airplanes and 8 patrol boats based on American technology. The US justified
its decision by saying that the planes would aid the "increasingly
undemocratic" government of president Chavez and destabilise the region.
Spain regretted the decision but would go on with the contract after acquiring
the necessary technology somewhere else.
- The trial of 29 people accused of involvement in train bombings that killed 191 people in March 2004 has begun Madrid on Wednesday February 15, 2007. Seven of the suspects, most of whom are Moroccan, will face charges of murder and belonging to a terrorist group. The first defendant, Rabei Osman, said he did not recognise the charges and refused to answer questions. Investigators in Spain have attributed the attacks to a local cell of Islamic extremists inspired by al-Qaida.
- A second key suspect in the trial of 29 people accused of participating in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people, has denied involvement on February 16, 2007. Youssef Belhadj said "I condemn the attacks and all kinds of violence," adding that he had no links to militant groups and denied being the European spokesman for al-Qaida, as the authorities have claimed. Co-defendant Rabei Osman also said he had no link to the blasts.
- Spanish police arrested 16 people Monday May 28, 2007, on suspicion of
recruiting volunteers to fight in Iraq and other countries. Computer material,
jihadist propaganda and several mobile phones were seized during pre-dawn
raids. No arms or explosives were discovered. Security forces had been watching
the suspects for several months.
- n October 31, 2007, a Spanish court sentenced three men to thousands of
years in jail for their part in the Madrid bombings in 2004. Moroccans Jamal
Zougam and Otman el Ghanoui and Spaniard Emilio Trashorras were convicted
of murder, but suspected mastermind Rabei Osman was acquitted. Twenty-one
- out of 28 on trial - were convicted and seven acquitted over the blasts
on four trains that killed 191 and injured more than 1,800. Victims' families
said the accused had got off lightly.
- In January 19, 2008, bomb-related material has been found during raids
in Barcelona which led to the arrest of 14 people suspected of links with
an Islamist terror network. The suspects included 12 from Pakistan and two
from India. The Spanish intelligence agency had warned France, the UK and
Portugal that a terror cell was preparing an imminent attack.
- A Spanish judge has issued an arrest warrant on July 30, 2010, for three American soldiers accused of killing a Spanish cameraman in Iraq. Judge Santiago Pedraz at Spain's National Court ordered the arrests of Lt. Col. Philip de Camp, Capt. Phillip Wolford, and Sgt. Thomas Gibson. Jose Couso, a cameraman with Spanish TV channel Tele 5, died April 8, 2003, when a shell fired from an American tank hit the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. The hotel was known to house many journalists posted to the Iraqi capital in the opening days of the war. The case was originally archived in 2006, but Couso's family appealed the decision and said they were pleased with the latest development.
- Eight people have been arrested in the Spanish territory of Ceuta on suspicion of recruiting jihadist fighters to go to Syria and elsewhere. Those detained in the raids on Friday morning June 21, 2013, are accused of being part of a network linked to al-Qaeda. They are suspected of funding, indoctrinating and facilitating travel for would-be fighters. The network was based in the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta and the Moroccan city of Fnideq. --
Spain Tuesday September 4, 2018:
. Sudan
Sudan closed its embassy in Baghdad on December 30, 2005, hoping in this
way to save the life of six of their employees -including a diplomat- kidnapped
on December 24. The remaining 12 embassy staff are scheduled to leave the
country on January 2, 2006.
. Sweden
- A London-bound Ryanair Boeing 737 plane was grounded in Stockholm, Sweden,
because a Swedish passenger of Tunisian origin with a criminal record, 29-year-old
Kerim Chatty, tried to board it with a loaded gun hidden in his hand luggage.
It was not certain immediately if the incident was linked to terrorism.
However this man was a devout Muslim heading for an Islamic Salafi conference
in Birmingham together with about 20 other Muslims.
- A few days later, security authorities believed that he could have been
a terrorist wanting to hijack the plane to crash it on an American embassy
somewhere in Europe to commemorate the September 11 2001 attacks. He trained
as a pilot in the US in 1996/97, but did not finish the course. However
Kerim Chatty denies planning highjacking the plane and, even less, intending
to crash it on an US embassy in Europe. He said that he went on the plane
with a gun by mistake, that he was in a hurry and forgot to take the gun
out of his suitcase! He was brought to court in Sweden and remanded in jail
for one week.
- On November 8 2002, the Swedish authorities charged Chatty, the man found
with a pistol in his luggage while boarding a plane for England, with illegal
possession of a firearm. Previously it was thought that he could have been
trying to hijack the plane but this could not be proven. He could be condemned
to four years in prison.
- On May 21, 2005, Sweden was found guilty of violating the international
convention against torture for deporting a terror suspect to Egypt. The
UN's committee against torture said Sweden should have known that Egypt
consistently tortured detainees. The Swedish government said it had been
given assurances that Ahmed Agiza would be treated fairly. Agiza, a former
member of Islamic Jihad, was sentenced in his absence to 25 years in jail
in 1998. He applied for asylum in Sweden three years later, but was turned
down on security grounds. He was handed over to US authorities that sent
him to jail in Egypt. Agiza's family claim he was subject to electric shocks
and other abuses in the first weeks after being placed in Egyptian custody.
Swedish officials who visited him in prison said they saw no signs of torture.
- The head of al-Qaida in Iraq has offered a reward -$100,000- for the murder of a Swedish cartoonist over his drawing depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Last month's cartoon showed Prophet Muhammad's head on a dog's body. Several Muslim countries protested.
- A 15-year-old Swedish girl who ran away with her boyfriend to join ISIS has been rescued for a second time on Tuesday February 23, 2016, in a raid carried out in Mosul, Iraq, by Kurdish Special Forces last week. Marilyn Stefanie Nevalainen, from Boras, western Sweden was pregnant when she left her home country along with her 19-year-old ISIS-supporter boyfriend in May last year. She was rescued from ISIS by Kurdish forces in late October, but escaped from her saviours to go back to her partner, and gave birth to a son days later.
. Thailand
- On January 8, 2004, it was revealed that al-Qaida-linked terrorists helped
Muslim groups to attack 21 schools and security forces in southern Thailand.
- On July 16, 2004, Thai troops have started pulling out of Iraq, despite
US requests to delay their stay to ensure law and order in the country.
Thailand pullout is to be completed by September 20 as planned.
- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asked the Thais to delay the troops' departure
because of the ongoing security crisis that threatened elections planned
for January. The minister refused and indicated that the pullout had started
on July 1.
- Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, died on Thursday October 13, 2016, after 70 years as head of state. The 88-year-old king was widely revered but had been in poor health in recent years, making few public appearances. He was seen as a stabilising figure in a country hit by cycles of political turmoil and multiple coups. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will be the new monarch. Thailand will hold a one-year mourning period and that all entertainment functions must be "toned down" for a month.