RUSI in the News Week closing 6 March 2016

Broadcast

Karin von Hippel on the ‘Special Relationship’ Murnaghan, Sky News 6 March

Tom Keatinge on Osama Bin Laden’s will, Newsday, BBC World Service 2 March

Op-Eds by RUSI staff and fellows

Cyberwarfare: Here’s what you should know
Anonymous, ISIS or state actors like the United States, China or Russia could all be behind an attack, advancing their own malevolent intentions. Unlike the clarity of dystopian movies like The Terminator or The Matrix, where evil machines use AI to take over the planet, the reality of modern cyberwarfare is a confusing mess of suggestive leads with no clear enemy in sight.

Raffaello Pantucci for GQ India 2 March

Can the EU and China work together on violent extremism?
Understanding how the EU and China can cooperate on countering this problem whilst bearing in mind differences is key to dealing with a problem that menaces nationals from both countries in an increasingly equal manner.

Raffaello Pantucci for euobserver 1 March

Quoted in the Media

Syria Crisis

US and Russia in partnership over Syria
"They are co-owners, insofar as the Russians respect the political process, and do apply pressure on Assad to stop bombing and take the process seriously," says Karin von Hippel, until recently a senior State Department official dealing with US strategy against the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, and now director general of the Royal United Services Institute think-tank.

Karin von Hippel for the BBC 1 March

Global Radicalisation

Al-Qaeda calls on Indian Muslims to wage jihad in government website hack
The membership of AQIS, created in 2014, is believed to remain in the low hundreds, while Isil has recruited fewer than 100 jihadists from India. “This is a plaintive, disappointed message that conveys how difficult AQIS has found India,” said Shashank Joshi, of security think tank the Royal United Services Institute. “It’s been a theme in al-Qaeda messaging for a while, even by Osama bin Laden himself.”

Shashank Joshi in The Telegraph  and for International Business Times 1 March

Al-Shabab Looks to the Skies For Next Attack
“Terrorist groups in general have always seen aviation as a big target,” says Raffaello Pantucci, director of security studies at defense think tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). “They [Al-Shabab] will continue to try [to blow up a plane] because aviation is such a big fat target that attracts global attention.”

Raffaello Pantucci in Newsweek 2 March

North Korea and China

N. Korea fires missiles after UN imposes tough sanctions
Andrea Berger said China's enforcement of the new sanctions was likely to be piecemeal at best.
"It is difficult to foresee broad and consistent implementation of the new resolution, especially from players such as China, to create barriers that North Korea cannot find its way around," Berger said. The latest resolution ushered in the fifth set of UN sanctions to hit North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006

Andrea Berger for AP and the Daily Mail 3 March

N. Korea sanction loopholes give China room for manoeuvre: analysts
"In practice, this provision means that China and other North Korean coal and iron importers will be able to take solace in vague language when they wish to"

Andrea Berger for AFP 3 March

China Issues Embargo Against 31 North Korean Vessels
"Indeed, given China's abysmal record on implementing previous softer cargo vigilance measures, it is difficult to envision Beijing taking systematic action to inspect North Korean cargo, however inspect' is defined," Berger wrote in a recent report for 38 North.
Andrea Berger in Chinatopix  5 March

Lone Actor Terrorism

Focus on Islamist terror plots overlooks threat from far right – report
Britain leads any other European country for the sheer number of attacks or plots over the past 15 years that have been planned by individuals or self-starting cells, according to the analysis conducted jointly by four research institutes.

The Guardian 29 February

Neo-Nazi lone-wolf attacks in Europe are more deadly than Isis-inspired terrorist plots
Researchers defined "lone actor" terrorism as attacks carried out by individuals or small groups of up to three people "without any direct support in the planning, preparation and execution of the attack, and whose decision to act is not directed by any group or other individuals". The study found a third of all perpetrators were right-wing extremists, almost as high as the 38% who were religious fanatics. Anarchists and far-left groups were accounted for just 2%.

International Business Times 29 February

Far-right poses greater threat to Britain than Islamist terror – report
Right-wing extremists pose a serious threat to UK security, says a new report on ‘lone-actor terrorism’ in Europe by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), Chatham House, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the University of Leiden.

RT on 29 February

UK Report Warns Against Extreme-Right Lone-Actor Terrorists
Since 2000, 33 pc of lone actor terrorist acts committed in Europe have been motivated by extreme right-wing beliefs, says a new study published by London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)

North Africa Post 1 March

 Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, at RUSI

Christians in the Middle East do not need 'special' protection, says Pope's 'foreign secretary
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, said yesterday that Christians persecuted in the Middle East should not be singled out for special protection. The archbishop was speaking at the Royal United Services Institute in London’s Whitehall about the "foreign policy" of the Holy See under Pope Francis.

The Tablet  4 March