Terrorist Haven in New Zealand

From CNN comes the report that terrorists have found sympathetic supporters in New Zealand. In a statement by Security Intelligence Service Director Richard Woods,

"From the service's own investigations we assess that there are individuals in, or from, New Zealand who support Islamic extremist causes," Woods wrote.

The developments "indicate attempts to use New Zealand as a safe haven from which activities of security concern elsewhere can be facilitated and/or the involvement of people from New Zealand in such activities."

This news should not be surprising to anyone even remotely familiar with the politics of New Zealand. The socialist mentality of the populace presents itself in widespread anti-Americanism and anti-capitalism which just happen to be benchmark beliefs of the terrorists. So, it's not hard for me to believe that terrorist sympathizers are in the country.

However, from a practical standpoint, as a staging point for world terrorism, New Zealand is geographically less then ideal. It's not like a terrorist using a mosque as a haven where he can jump out, fire off a weapon, and then duck back into the mosque. New Zealand is thousands of miles from anything worth terrorizing other than in the country itself or on air/sea transports. The country ranks just ahead of Antarctica in remoteness. In fact, if you're traveling to Antarctica, it's the stop after New Zealand.

In summary, terrorists in New Zealand are a concern, but their ability to project terrorism worldwide is limited by geography. As a result, they should be fairly easy to monitor and contain.(via In The Bullpen)

Also blogging: The Jawa Report