Evidence of abuse by Malaysian police?

It's not an Abu Ghraib, but the purported video, apparently taken using a mobile phone in a Malaysia, features a prisoner, humiliation, forced nakedness, and the Koran. Malaysian authorities are launching an inquiry.

The clip, thought to have been filmed on a mobile phone, appears to show the prisoner and a female police officer.
The officer, who wears a Muslim headscarf, stands in front of the woman, who is forced to strip naked, grasp her ears and squat repeatedly.
It is a punishment common in Malaysian schools and is designed to humiliate, says the BBC's Jonathan Kent in Kuala Lumpur.
The pictures are accompanied by what appears to be a recording of verses from the Koran being recited, although it is unclear if the recording would have been audible to the woman.

On the positive side, at least they apparently had a woman officer present, thus preserving the semblance of gender propriety.

Apparently this is cutting back on their Chinese tourism dollars by almost half compared to 2004, as Chinese tourists have been detered by reports of such abuses.

A number of Chinese women have claimed they were forced to strip in Malaysian police stations while being spied upon.
Malaysian immigration officers have also been accused of profiling young female Chinese visitors as would-be prostitutes.

The price of a morals offensive? It seems plausible that the verses cited constituted a moral lecture. Yet other alleged actions, including robbery, suggest that there's also been a shakedown by corrupt officers.

What makes this doubly uncomfortable for the authorities is that the video emerged after a number of Chinese tourists alleged they had been arrested, forced to strip in front of male police officers and robbed.

White phosphorus versus chemical weapons

Some critics of the USA are claiming that white phosphorus (WP) is a chemical weapon.

Critics claim that the US used chemical weapons in Falluja, on the grounds that it is the toxic properties which cause the harm. The UK's Guardian newspaper for example said: "The US used chemical weapons in Iraq - and then lied about it."

However, if WP counts as a chemical weapon, then Iraq was openly in possession of chemical weapons in 2002, thus validating the U.S. administration's claim that Iraq possessed chemical weapons. From a 2004 CIA report on Iraqi WMD:

Hutin Munitions Production and Storage Facility: ISG discovered numerous barrels (over 3,000 gallons) of white phosphorus and munitions assembly lines, which we judge were intended for the production of white phosphorus illumination rounds. This white phosphorus, probably imported and declared by Iraq in 2002, could have been used to produce some nerve agent precursors on a laboratory scale.

It's worth noting that the CIA did not claim the WP located to be a chemical weapon and therefore a "slam dunk". If, however, WP is a chemical weapon, then Saddam was technically in possession of chemical weapons in 2002, thus validating the U.S. adminstration's case for invasion.

On the appeal of political rants

According to recent research, older consumers prefer emotional appeals.

"We find that older adults generally prefer and have better memory for emotional appeals. In contrast, younger adults tend to prefer and have better memory for more rational appeals. However, when time horizon perspectives are manipulated to be short, all participants prefer emotional appeals, regardless of age. Similarly, when time horizon perspectives are manipulated to be long, all prefer rational appeals, regardless of age," explain Patti Williams (UPenn) and Aimee Drolet (UCLA).

An immediate consequence to political marketing: as the Baby Boomers age, expect political messages to shift to a balance of more emotional appeals over rational appeals. Also expect political divisiveness to increase as participants grow increasingly emotional over time as the population distribution greys. Rants will be more popular than reasoned polemics.

Within the hour

This report came in within the hour of my previous post.

Gunmen threw grenades and a land mine exploded near the convoy of Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, killing at least five bodyguards and wounding several others, an official said...
There were also reports that a remote-controlled bomb was set off alongside the land mine, Americo told The Associated Press shortly after arriving in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, from Mogadishu.
The attacks occurred shortly after Gedi arrived for a visit to the Somali capital -- a stronghold of powerful warlords-turned-Cabinet ministers and Islamic extremists opposed to his divided transitional government.

It would be interesting to see confirmation whether or not that was indeed an IED used instead of a landmine and whether the technology corresponds to the increasingly lethal IEDs that have emerged in Iraq in the past year. Piracy could have been used to fund the purchase of technology from allied groups.

"What we're seeing is an increase in the evolutionary pace of IED (improvised explosive device) design," said Ben Venzke, CEO of IntelCenter, a Washington counterterrorism firm contracted by the U.S. military to study insurgent tactics. "It's increasing at a pace we previously haven't seen."
Insurgent groups are passing around videos and other training aids to teach the most effective bombmaking techniques. "There is definitely a program to share information," said Maj. Dean Wollan, intelligence officer for the U.S. Army's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, operating in this area north of Baghdad...
One captured video shows in three-dimensional animation every component of a roadside bomb, how to build and use it, and where to place it for the biggest impact...
"The concern is that one group gains an effective technology, and it becomes almost Darwinism," said Lt. Col. Shawn Weed, division intelligence officer for the 3rd Infantry Division, which is responsible for Baghdad and surrounding areas. "They'll share that with other groups."

A global network for low-tech proliferation is a possibility if not a reality.

Somalia: failed state and piracy hotspot

Pirates are getting aggressive in Somalia; the most recent example is an attack on a cruise ship.

The pirates were in two small boats and were carrying machine guns and a rocket-propelled grenade when they attempted the attack on Seabourn Cruise Lines' "Spirit" about 5:35 a.m. local time Saturday, Deborah Natansohn, president of the cruise line, told CNNRadio...
"There's some minor damage done to the ship," Rogers said. "There's no water right now, for instance, in some places, and I believe one of the grenades actually went off in one of the cabins, but everyone on board is fine."

Somali piracy has endangered food aid in the region.

The hijacking in June of a ship carrying World Food Programme food aid has drawn international attention to the problem, but piracy represents a risk to any vessel calling at Somali ports, or bypassing the country's long coastline on the voyage between East Africa and the Red Sea...
"There is no central government in Somalia, and no effective law enforcement," [Jayant Abhyankar of the International Maritime Bureau] says.
"This makes it ideal ground for any kind of crime, particularly maritime crime."
Armed men in speed boats often open fire on passing ships, hoping to seize them and get a ransom for the vessels and the crew, the IMB says.
The IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre says that have been 21 incidents since 15 March off the Somali coast. "Stay as far away as possible unless calling at a Somali port", the IMB advises, with 150 nautical miles (280 km) being considered a reasonable distance.
It also says that radio communications, including VHF, should be kept to a minimum near the Somali coast.

As well, al Qaida is apparently engaged in destabilization:

Police in breakaway Somaliland battled al-Qaida suspects armed with assault rifles and hand grenades, capturing five, officials said Friday...

This AP report from 2003 cites an alleged United Nations draft report's conclusions that al Qaida operatives who engaged in the 2002 Kenya attacks trained in Somalia.

The draft report, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, details how an al-Qaida cell trained in Mogadishu in November 2001, smuggled surface-to-air missiles from Somalia to Kenya in August 2002, then fled back to Somalia after attacking a Kenyan resort hotel and an Israeli charter aircraft on Nov. 28.

It's possible that piracy is being used as alternative terrorist financing.