Posts Categorized: Nov/Dec 2014

Civil unrest in Asia Omar Hamid examines the rising risk of civil unrest across Asia   China Tension in Hong Kong The main issue driving protests in Honk Kong is the nominating procedures for the 2017 Chief Executive elections. Beijing is extremely unlikely to compromise, and so the protests are likely to continue into 2015…. Read more »

Regional Instability
 Paul McGrath assesses the potential sources of regional instability in 2015   South Asia ISAF withdrawal from Afghanistan A civil war is very likely after the 2014 ISAF withdrawal. Although the Taliban is unlikely to be able to overthrow the Kabul government, at least over the next two years, the government’s authority outside… Read more »

Terrorist Groups Matthew Henman examines the key terrorist groups to watch in 2015
   The Islamic State, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is a Sunni militant Islamist group founded in Iraq in October 2004. Initially known as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), the group subsequently created a series of… Read more »

Following the recent shootings in Canada, Anthony Tucker-Jones asks what can be done to safeguard against radicalised expatriates and aspiring jihadists   Following the recent arrest of four men suspected of plotting attacks at Remembrance Sunday events in the UK and the killing of two soldiers in Canada, efforts to cope with home-grown Islamic radicals… Read more »

With the terrorist threat in the UK raised to “severe”, Mike Pickup considers the requirement for rapidly deployable security barriers to protect major events   When examining the challenges faced by security forces to protect venues, security officials could easily make the mistake of focusing solely on the event day itself; the significant increase of… Read more »

The Islamic State (IS) group is making huge gains in the battle for hearts and minds. Lina Kolesnikova analyses their methods and calls for renewed efforts to counter their message   During the past five years we have witnessed an interesting phenomenon: local terrorist organisations make international headlines more and more often. Hundreds of independent… Read more »

As internal dissent continues to grow within China, John Chisholm analyses the threat from Uighur terrorists and the rising middle classes   China likes to portray itself as a Confucian society: orderly, deferential and internally coherent. But that vision is not, and never really has been, the case. Culturally, the Confucian-infused society may be more… Read more »

The increased terror threat level has led many countries to re-evaluate how they screen large cargo passing through their borders. Richard Mastronardi weighs the various screening and inspection technologies available   With increased activity and renewed commitments by terrorist groups to undermine the values of developed nations, implementing a comprehensive security strategy is the top… Read more »