Posted on February 17, 2016. Tags: Counter-terrorism, Extremism, ISIS, Islamic State, Israel, Palestinian Israeli Conflict, Palestinians, Peace Process, Terrorism, united nations
When U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon suggested in a recent Security Council speech that an Israeli drive to build settlements beyond its territory partly fueled Palestinian extremism, it drew ire from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “There is no justification for terror,” responded Netanyahu. “The comments of the U.N. Secretary-General encourage terror.” In the epochal ‘war […]
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Posted in Islam, Israel, Israeli Palestinian Conflict, Middle East, Religion, Security Issues, Syria, Terrorism, World
Posted on April 4, 2015. Tags: Baathist, Counter-terrorism, independence, Iraq, Iraq war, ISIL, ISIS, Islam, Islamic State, Middle East, Nouri al Maliki, Saddam, Shi'a, Sunni, Syria, Terrorism, World
ISIS’ exploits dominate headlines, horrifying witnesses around the world. As a history graduate who specialised in researching the rise of Islam, its culture, and its creation of a complex and inspiring civilisation, the recent destruction of millennia old artefacts have almost reduced me to tears. As we now watch and condemn the destruction of priceless […]
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Posted in Conflict, Humanitarian Intervention, Iraq, Islam, Middle East, Political Security, Refugees, Religion, Security Issues, Syria, Terrorism, World
Posted on May 8, 2014. Tags: Counter-terrorism, Poverty, Terrorism
Three weeks ago, a Taliban commander named Mohammad Ashan turned himself in to Afghan police. Ashan had noticed wanted posters around his native Paktika province promising a $100 bounty for his capture, and he surrendered himself hoping to collect it. Needless to say, he collected nothing and was detained on the spot. Ashan’s comically simple […]
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Posted in Economic Security, Food Security, Middle East, Security Issues, Terrorism, World
Posted on December 31, 2014. Tags: Counter-terrorism, Counterinsurgency, Daesh, Haider al Abadi, Insurgency, Iraq, Iraqi army, ISIL, ISIS, Islamic State, Joel Wing, Musings on Iraq, Nouri al Maliki, Terrorism
Robert Tollast sits down with Joel Wing, author of the excellent Musings on Iraq blog, to discuss the coming year in Iraq. Joel has made his blog an expansive online resource for Iraq analysis and it is now one of the main on-line forums for academic discussion of Iraq, recently hosting a 24 expert review of the […]
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Posted in Conflict, Interviews, Iraq, Middle East, Security Issues, Syria, Terrorism, World
Posted on January 25, 2015. Tags: Afghanistan, Aid, Al Qaeda, Counter-terrorism, Culture, development, Enlightenment, Human, Humanitarian, Iraq, IS, ISIL, ISIS, Islam, Islamic State, Military, Modernity, Philosophy, Politics, Poverty, rights, Taliban, Terrorism, UN, World
Why are humanitarian workers targeted? On World Humanitarian Day this year the United Nations reported that in various conflict zones in 2013, 155 aid workers were killed, 171 were injured and 134 were taken as captives. We have to ask, what is the justification for such acts? Let us begin with the illegal occupation of […]
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Posted in Humanitarian Intervention, Iraq, Islam, Middle East, Religion, Security Issues, Syria, Terrorism, UN, World