In The News 30 May - 3 June
Broadcast
BBC Newsnight 01/06/2016
The [Assad] regime likes to use this as a tactic to divert discussions away from political tracts in Geneva and to replace it more with humanitarian questions, especially with questions about humanitarian access.
Michael Stephens for BBC Newsnight, June 1
Op-Ed
What success would look like in Fallujah
“Why the Iraqi army, which is already getting air support from coalition partners, ground support ... from the US and some operational support from the Iranians, needs to use sectarian militias is a curious question.”
Afzal Ashraf for Al Jazeera, June 1
Extremism is not determined by a handshake
This issue goes far beyond the matter of shaking hands. Rather, it involves the notion of pluralism, within the context of upholding fundamental values, in a multi-religious and multi-ethnic society – and further, against the context of rising anti-Muslim sentiment across our continent in Europe.
H A Hellyer for The National, June 2
Brexit
Military think-tank says Brexit will cause defence shock
“A UK exit from the EU would be a strategic shift as profound as that experienced by the country in the late 1960s and early 1970s.”
Malcolm Chalmers for The Financial Times, June 3
Also in Defense News, June 3
Also in The International Business Times, June 3
UK PONI 2016
Emily Thornberry: Government soft-pedalling on nuclear disarmament
In a speech to the Royal United Services Institute in London, Ms Thornberry said her party had a proud history of defending the nation while pursuing multi-lateral disarmament."It was a Labour government, Harold Wilson’s, that agreed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 “to pursue negotiations in good faith…on a treaty on general and complete disarmament,” she said.
RUSI Event in Politics Home, June 2
Also in The Herald Scotland, June 2
‘Disturbing Silence’ From Tories Over Trident Renewal
Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute, she [Emily Thornberry] said: “Let’s look at the money. The latest in a series of rapidly escalating estimates in the past year puts the cost of manufacturing the submarines alone at up to £41bn.”
RUSI Event for Morning Star, June 3
Tories have failed to answer questions on Trident boats – Emily Thornberry speech
This is the speech given by shadow Defence Secretary Emily Thornberry on the Successor programme at the Royal United Services Institute today.
RUSI Event for Labour List, June 2
European Union
Supply chain resilience study
Over the past 20 years, the UK has progressively adopted a risk-management approach to security, in which the priority for investment in resilience to all kinds of threat and hazard is informed by an assessment of the likelihood of harm or disruption to key British interests, and the seriousness of the likely impacts. So say John Tesh and Jennifer Cole of the defence and security think-tank RUSI in a paper on supply chain resilience.
RUSI Report for Professional Security, May 31
Terrorism
US government issues Europe-wide summer terror warning
“If you look at France alone in the past year, you’ve had attacks and attempted attacks on public, in museums, attacks in music halls, attempted attacks at religious sites, attacks on random police officers.”
Raffaello Pantucci for Politics Home, June 1
Technology is crucial in the fight against terrorism
“There is a great fear around crowded spaces because of the high impact that an attack can have.”
Raffaello Pantucci for The Financial Times, June 1
Also for Today Online, June 2
U.S. State Department Warns Summer Terror Attacks Across Europe
“I think it reflects the reality of the threat picture in Europe… If you look at France alone in the past year, you’ve had attacks and attempted attacks on public, in museums, attacks in music halls, attempted attacks at religious sites, attacks on random police officers. So it’s a very broad threat picture. Isis has given people a pretty broad direction — find a gun, find a lot of people and just shoot.”
Raffaello Pantucci for Breitbart, June 2
Banking & Financial Crime
Co-op Bank closes more accounts belonging to charitable organisations
“Unfortunately for a lot of charities, at some point banks say, we are not making money out of banking NGOs so we are going to close these accounts.”
Tom Keatinge for The Independent, May 31
Immigration
BBC News 24
The Royal United services Institute in 2013 compared the resources available to protect the coast of Britain with those protecting France and found there were 20 times as many resources deployed in France as in the UK.
RUSI Report for BBC News, May 30
Cornwall gets Border Force hub to tackle illegal immigrant smuggling on South West coast
“The UK is accepting a greater degree of maritime risk than its European counterparts.”
RUSI Report in Plymouth Herald, May 31
Also in Ely Standard, May 31
Also in Kent News, May 31
EU war on people smugglers is repeating disaster of war on drugs
“Migrants in boats are symptoms, not causes, of the problem.”
Peter Roberts for RT, May 30
Qatar
Qatar Investment Authority taking steps to restructure assets
“There's been a gradual shift for a number of years.” Roberts told the Gulf News Journal, characterizing the previous management approach of the fund under Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber bin Mohammed bin Thani Al Thani, which seemed to mix foreign policy with investment to a degree.
David Roberts for Gulf News, May 30