Transatlantic Intelligencer

The Islamist Plot: A UK Terror Trial and the Origins of the Libyan Rebellion

John Rosenthal — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:32:29 +0000

Today is the official anniversary of the “February 17th Revolution,” the Libyan rebellion against the rule of Moammar Qaddafi that — with a massive helping hand from NATO — eventually led to the fall of the regime and the death of Qaddafi. Although the rebellion was initially presented in the Western news media as a “protest movement,” it is clear from both video evidence and firsthand accounts that the “protests” were extremely violent from the start.

Moreover, little known evidence from a British terror trial indicates that there was nothing spontaneous about the violence. The al-Qaeda-affiliated Libyan Islamic Fighting Group had a longstanding plan to topple the Qaddafi regime by using just those methods that would be employed by “protestors” and rebels one year ago…

See my new article at National Review Online here.

Frankfurt Airport Shooter Gets ‘Life’… Could be Free by 2028

John Rosenthal — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:54:15 +0000

Arid Uka, the 22-year-old Kosovo native who shot and killed two American airmen at the Frankfurt airport in March of last year, was sentenced to life in prison by a German court on Friday. Despite the terminology, however, a “life” sentence in Germany does not in fact mean life, and Uka could be set free as early as 2028.

Consider, for instance, the precedent of Red Army Faction terrorist Birgit Hogefeld. In 1996, Hogefeld was convicted by the very same court of the murder of two American servicemen and an American civilian. Today, she is free on parole.

For the details, see my new article at the Weekly Standard online here.

UN Court Ruling Assures Impunity for Nazi War Crimes

John Rosenthal — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:28:35 +0000

In a decision that has been little noted by the American news media – and misreported by those news outlets that reported it at all — the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled last Friday that Germany enjoys immunity from liability for crimes committed by German forces on foreign soil during WWII. The ruling stems from several recent cases in which Italian courts ruled that Germany must pay indemnities to Italian victims of Nazi war crimes or surviving family members. The most sensational of the cases involves the Civitella Massacre, so-named for the village in Tuscany that was at the center of a series of indiscriminate “reprisal actions” undertaken by German forces on June 29, 1944.

Santa Maria Church, after the Civitella Massacre
(source: Imperial War Museum)

For details and background, see my new article on PJMedia here.

German Bank Offers ‘Islam-Compliant’ Investment

John Rosenthal — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:50:23 +0000

Last month, German bank WestLB rolled out a new “Islam-compliant” investment product named the Islamic Strategy Index Certificate. For the details, see my new report at the Weekly Standard online here.

Newsletter Reminder

John Rosenthal — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:06:20 +0000

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German Euro-Deputy: S&P Downgrade Part of American ‘War Against the Euro’

John Rosenthal — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:58:35 +0000

One of the European parliament’s most influential members, the German Christian Democrat Elmar Brok, has declared that Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the credit ratings of nine eurozone member states is part of a “currency war” being waged by the United States against the euro and Europe itself. Brok is a former chair of the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, and he is touted to reclaim that post when committee chairs are reassigned next week.

For details and background, see my new report at the Weekly Standard online here.

Sentenced to Death in Tehran, Iranian ‘Apostate’ Refused Asylum in Romania

John Rosenthal — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:02:56 +0000

The Romanian news agency Mediafax reports that an Iranian refugee who has been condemned to death for “apostasy” in Tehran has had his request for political asylum in Romania refused by the Romanian Immigration Office.

For the details of the case of Christian convert Habib Bastam, see my new report at the Weekly Standard online here.

Libyan Rebel Commander: I Was on the Mavi Marmara

John Rosenthal — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:13:08 +0000

According to the Spanish daily ABC, a Libyan rebel commander who played a key role in overthrowing the rule of Muammar Qaddafi previously participated in the May 2010 attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza aboard the Turkish-owned vessel the Mavi Marmara. The operation famously culminated in a deadly clash between Israel Defense Force commandos and “activists,” armed with iron rods and knives, aboard the ship.

The paper’s source for the story is the rebel leader himself: Mahdi al-Harati…

See my new report on National Review Online here.

A Sordid Tale: On The Latest “DSK Affair”

John Rosenthal — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:19:32 +0000

Leaked footage from a hotel security camera has revived rumors that former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was the victim of a “conspiracy” to derail his French presidential aspirations in New York last May, when, on his account, he accepted a Sofitel maid’s generous offer of some quick oral gratification just prior to check-out – and famously found himself arrested and accused of sexual assault a few hours later….But if Strauss-Kahn was indeed the victim of a conspiracy in New York, then, in light of more recent developments in France, it is clear that the greatest beneficiary of this conspiracy will turn out to have been none other than his own Socialist party…

For the details of the latest “DSK affair,” see my new article at The Weekly Standard online here.

Dear Julian: The WikiLeaks Tell-All That Doesn’t

John Rosenthal — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:04:07 +0000

Daniel Domscheit-Berg’s Inside WikiLeaks has been billed as a “tell-all” exposé of the supposed “whistleblower” website. Given the darkness in which the history of the site is shrouded, such a volume would be welcome. But Domscheit-Berg’s book in fact tells very little of substance and virtually nothing that is verifiable. Far from providing anything like an exposé, Inside WikiLeaks appears essentially to have been written for fans of alleged WikiLeaks “founder” Julian Assange. Domscheit-Berg himself comes across as a starry-eyed Assange groupie or even, in the most cloying passages, a forlorn lover…

My review of Inside WikiLeaks was previously only available in the print edition of World Affairs. It is now available online here.