Law & Paneir

By EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO Last Christmas period most of us staying in the urban areas such as Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, River state and foreign territories did make the annual ritual of mass return to the South Eastern region of Nigeria to spend time with loved ones and also attend to the multidimensional development -focused village meetings convoked by the elders-in-council. As far as I am concern, I make it a religious, cultural and traditional obligation to always travel to Arondizuogu in Imo State to touch base with my people and join other progressive-minded citizens to brainstorm on how to move our home town forward from the perpetual poverty infested terrain dominated by absolute lack of social infrastructure to a twenty first century human habitation.    After embarking on this yearly pilgrimage to Arondizuogu for over twenty years, I have come to accept the fact that unless the entire suffering populace in Nigeria team up to say no to ...

Jihad: one of the most misunderstood concepts in Islam by M. Amir Ali, Ph.D "Islam" and other various Islamic terms and concepts are grossly misunderstood in the West. Muslims can hardly find anyone to blame but themselves because (a) they have failed to live by the Islamic tenants in our times, and (b) they have failed to promote understanding of Islam in the West through outreach projects. This brochure is a humble attempt to briefly explain the terms given in the title. The Institute of Islamic Information & Education (III&E) has published almost fifty brochures and several articles for promoting understanding of Islam among Muslims and non-Muslims equally. Please write to the III&E or visit their web site for more information. Some of the Islamic Terms Islam: means a commitment to live in peace through submission to the Will of God (Allah). Muslim: is a person who makes a commitment to live in peace through serv...

By Amy Zalman, Ph.D. The world's great religions all have both peaceful and violent messages from which believers can choose. Religious terrorists and violent extremists share the decision to interpret religion to justify violence, whether they are Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, or Sikh. Buddhism and Terrorism Buddhism is a religion or approach to an enlightened life based on the teachings of the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama twenty five centuries ago in northern India. The edict not to kill or inflict pain on others is integral to Buddhist thought. Periodically, however, Buddist monks have encouraged violence or initiated it. The primary example in the 20th and 21st century is in Sri Lanka, where Sinhala Buddhist groups have committed and encouraged violence against local Christians and Tamils. The leader of Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese cult that committed a lethal sarin gas attack in the mid-1990s, drew on Buddhist as well as Hindu ideas to justify h...

By Louise Shelley In this paper Louise Shelley uses empirical research metho d s to analyse the nexus between transnational crime, corruption an d terrorism. Regions analyse d inclu d e Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe an d the Unite d States. The majority of other research has focuse d on the connection between transnational crime groups an d corruption an d this connection is be com ing more un d erstoo d an d accepte d . However, the connection between terrorist groups an d corruption is much less accepte d or un d erstoo d an d this paper she d s some light on this important relationship.    The paper’s analysis also d iffers from other research in that it d ivi d es transnational crime groups into ol d an d new an d d iscusses how this affects their relationship with corrupt governments an d or terrorists groups.  It fin d s that ol d transnational crime groups (e.g. in Japan) have long-term financial interests that e...

By David P. Fidler Introduction In late February 2013, a controversy erupted after a U.S. cybersecurity company released a report alleging that the Chinese military was using cyber technologies to obtain trade secrets from foreign companies. The Chinese government rejected the allegations, but the report resonated with U.S. concerns about Chinese economic cyber espionage. After the report's release, the Obama administration issued a new strategy to counter theft of trade secrets from U.S. companies. This Insight examines the international legal issues this controversy about economic cyber espionage raises. Economic Espionage and Cybersecurity Espionage comes in different forms. Traditional espionage encompasses a government's efforts to acquire clandestinely classified or otherwise protected information from a foreign government. Economic espionage involves a state's attempts to acquire covertly trade secrets held by foreign private enterprises. “Cor...

By By RICHARD A. CLARKE FOR the last two months, senior government officials and private-sector experts have paraded before Congress and described in alarming terms a silent threat: cyberattacks carried out by foreign governments. Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the F.B.I., said cyberattacks would soon replace terrorism as the agency’s No. 1 concern as foreign hackers, particularly from China, penetrate American firms’ computers and steal huge amounts of valuable data and intellectual property. It’s not hard to imagine what happens when an American company pays for research and a Chinese firm gets the results free; it destroys our competitive edge. Shawn Henry, who retired last Friday as the executive assistant director of the F.B.I. (and its lead agent on cybercrime), told Congress last week of an American company that had all of its data from a 10-year, $1 billion research program copied by hackers in one night. Gen. Keith B. Alexander, head of the mi...

By Bill Gertz China has been quietly taking steps to encircle the United States by arming western hemisphere states, seeking closer military, economic, and diplomatic ties to U.S. neighbors, and sailing warships into U.S. maritime zones. The strategy is a Chinese version of what Beijing has charged is a U.S. strategy designed to encircle and “contain” China. It is also directed at countering the Obama administration’s new strategy called the pivot to Asia. The pivot calls for closer economic, diplomatic, and military ties to Asian states that are increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment throughout that region. “The Chinese are deftly parrying our ‘Pivot to the Pacific’ with their own elegant countermoves,”said John Tkacik, a former State Department Asia hand. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to question President Barack Obama about the U.S. pivot during the summit meeting set to begin Friday afternoon in California. Chinese state-run media ...

By Daniel Wagner Enhanced Security? In the 18 months that have passed since the events of 9/11, the world has changed in many profound ways. A small band of terrorists, a tiny fraction of a percent of the global population, have succeeded in changing most of our lives, perhaps forever. Questions of security now permeate our lives. When considering a business trip or holiday, we now routinely factor into the equation whether a destination is considered ‘safe', what is the least potentially dangerous route and method of travel to get there, and what additional time must be added to account for the now ‘routine' enhanced security checks. While the 'security apparatus' in place at airports is much more thorough and sophisticated than it was two years ago, it is truly shocking how large the gaps in security in other modes of transportation are, and how vulnerable to attack we remain. There is virtually no meaningful security on trains and ...

Since the election ends, there are quite number of the political analysts using various media trying to put their views on aftermath of the election. Their discussions touch on various aspects including Election Commission [EC]'s role, ineffectiveness of EC conducting election, protest, legitimacy of the government and so on. Here, I only wanted to discuss on a single issue which I felt that most of the analysts had missed out undesirably. As what I had observed many of them indistinguishably missed out the difference between a government and a political party. Under the Westminster approach which was adapted and practiced in Malaysia, a political party that controls Parliament will form government and allow ruling this nation for 5 years. In each election, the people must elect a political party which had majority in Parliament by giving mandate to them. Like in USA, the people will elect either Republican Party or Democrat Party of their choice to rule ...