RUSI in the News 10 September - 16 September

Broadcast

Anjem Choudary jailed

'Sadly, at this point, his message is out there and it's gone beyond him in many ways, so his removal isn't going to necessarily change that picture.'

Raffaello Pantucci on Full Measure, 11 September

Op-Eds

The full circle of reason

This diplomatic initiative is now pressing Kabul and New Delhi back together, potentially breathing new life into the strategic partnership signed five years ago. During his trip, Mr. Ghani publicly reinforced India’s new approach to Balochistan, demanding that “this violence needs to be covered.”

Shashank Joshi for the The Hindu, 16 September

In the News

The Syrian Crisis

Syrian government says it shot down two Israeli aircraft

Michael Stephens, an analyst with the Royal United Services Institute, was sceptical about the Syrian claims, saying "they couldn't do it even if they wanted to. The Russians and the Israelis came to an agreement on airspace over Syria, and so the only equipment that could shoot down an Israeli plane isn't in play," he said.

Michael Stephens, in Middle East Eye, 13 September

Syrian regime steps up airstrikes ahead of ceasefire agreed by US and Russia

“When you're a fighter on the ground in Syria I think you look at JFS and say they’re pretty nasty but at least they are helping to fight the regime,” said Dr H A Hellyer, an associate fellow at Royal United Services Institute.

HA Hellyer in The Telegraph, 10 September

Kurds reject Syrian opposition’s transition plan

“The PYD has been more ecumenical in this regard, but the KNC has long insisted on ethnic national identity as being the main underpinning of their ideas which cannot be compatible with larger opposition goals,” he added. “To this end, it is not surprising that a split has opened up; their end goals were never the same. The KNC wants an autonomous Kurdish controlled entity. They’re very clear about it.”

Michael Stephens in ARA News, 14 September

European Army

“There are others in France in particular and to some extent Germany who would quite like to have European headquarters and a European approach to managing their own destiny and taking responsibility for our own defence,” she said. “Does that equate to a centralised European armed forces managed by its own headquarters? No. We are a long, long way from that.”

Liz Quintana in News.Au, 13 September

Deradicalisation

Children under 10 flagged for deradicalisation every day

He said: “I suspect it’s a case of people being more alert to the issue. If we have stories in the press about children as young as 13 going out to Syria and Iraq, then they become more alert to the problem. We have seen a growth in quite young people going out to fight in these places. I think we are seeing a very downward trajectory in terms of the ages of people who are participating in extremist activity.”

Raffaello Pantucci, in The Telegraph, RT, 12 September

Space

REVEALED: UFO hunters’ secret US-funded HQ... in the heart of London's Soho

Liz Quintana, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services think tank said: “Britain has maintained its interest in space and the issue of UFOs and it would not surprise me if the UK and US had an office here. Space is becoming increasingly contested and congested. Some of this is peaceful, some of it has dual use and some distinctly nefarious. Russia and China particularly are active.”

Liz Quintana in The Express, RT

Iraqi Security

Iraqi cleric claims ‘brainwashed children’ cannot be de-radicalised

Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, Khalid Al-Mulla said that Iraqi children have been exposed to Daesh’s ideology for far too long and that “we now have no way of de-radicalising them.”

Middle East Monitor, 15 September

Iraq FM: ‘Third World War’ has begun

Clarifying his comments regarding what he believes to be a third World War, Al-Jafari explained that although “terrorism has not reached this level of violence around the world”, it was now unparalleled in its degree of totality. “We do not ask for the world’s nations to send their sons [to fight Daesh], but we do ask them to send as much support as possible”, Al-Jafari said, adding, “Iraq is fighting terrorism on behalf of, and instead of, the world’s nations.”

Middle East Eye, 14 September

Iraqi security chief blames Gulf states for cultivating rise of IS

Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute in London, Faleh al-Fayyad, Iraq's national security adviser, said that the ideologies that underpinned al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group had received support in neighbouring Arab states, and warned that "some regimes have been devoting resources to defending those ideologies. Some rich Gulf countries [have been] using the measures of their wealth to giving legitimacy to these groups," he said.

Middle East Monitor, 14 September

Lone Actor Terrorism

Behind the lone wolf

A recent report by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) on what it called lone-actor terrorism, drew out this point well. Its analysis highlights that in the past 15 years a very significant threat has been posed by the extreme right across Europe from those acting alone or in small groups.

Searchlight, 15 September

The North West Frontier

New battle, new players

PM Modi has rightly begun, albeit belatedly, to recognise past acts of valour by Indian soldiers in larger causes, albeit in a colonial army, like defeating Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan or countering the Pashtun mischief across a vital frontier. The 21 who died at Saragarhi thus must be treated as martyrs in defence of India. As George Santayana said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

KC Singh in  The Tribune, September 15