Law & Paneir

By  Jessica D. Lewis Many have asked what needs to be done about the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), the terrorist organization that recently took control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city. Questions range from the acceptability of airstrikes and the viability of a national unity government in Iraq to the feasibility of a counter-offensive that depends upon the remaining capacity of the Iraq Security Forces. These are important and worthy questions, and timely, because ISIS is growing stronger. But these questions preempt the rigorous analysis that is required in order to determine what the U.S. should do about ISIS and why.  ISIS is no longer a mere terrorist organization, but one that operates like an army. It is no longer just an army, but one that is conquering land in Iraq and Syria to establish new ideological rule, in line with al-Qaeda’s endgame. This is no longer a war of ideas against an extremist group with sparse networks, flashy strategic messag...

By Shubhda Chaudhary Introduction The spread and impact of terrorism in South East Asian countries is not a new phenomenon. The presence of home-grown terrorist groups in these countries still remains a major concern. The Abu Sayyaf militants who killed almost 50 people by raiding a Christian town of Ipil in the Philippines in 1995 are an instance of it. In addition, around 222 people were killed by home grown terrorists in Bali, Indonesia in 2002 and 2005. Even now eastern Indonesia and Southern Philippines have cases of kidnappings and killings. What indeed is worrisome is how ISIS is able to reach out to the Asia-Pacific region and recruit citizens to fight in Syria and Iraq. What must be understood that the spill-over effect of ISIS is not limited to the Middle East alone but to the entire Muslim population in general and thus, the matter needs to be sensitively dealt with. This article deals with the growing threat of ISIS in the South East Asian countries of Indonesia, M...

Comments: Am I surprised with such a coordinated attacks in Paris. Not at all. Early of this year the indications already there for French security and intelligence agencies that Paris is prime target of ISIS inspired or affiliated individuals and groups in France. The involvement of France in Syria and influx of huge refugees especially from Syria, Iraq and North African countries into Europe further ingrained terrorists to launch an attack in Paris. Latest report indicated that more than 120 people were killed.  My question is whether these agencies in France or Europe as a whole have the effective strategies and implementations tools to suppress these terrorists to launch another deadly attacks on their soils or not? I seriously had doubt on this issue. They need to  revamp and reanalysis the current and future possibilities and have an effective inter governmental and inter agencies cooperation and collaboration to tackle the emerging and well demanding th...

The recent MIC party election is so crucial for its survival in future. MIC has always asserted that it represents the Indian community as a whole in Malaysia. The functionality and pure determination to serve the community will define whether the elected leadership has garnered enough support and trust of the community or not. The current leadership is at a crossroads. The leadership needs to set aside the selfishness, nepotism and cronyism for the betterment of this destitute community in Malaysia. It is essential that the policies and initiatives brought by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak are channelled for the community alone without any favours. The elected leadership needs to put the interest of community first, rather than the interest of the leaders and members of this party. Dr S Subramaniam is seen as the person who is steering the community in a new direction. The combination of well-educated leaders in the leadership of MIC has become a rarity in recent times. Dr ...

Trends in political violence Rawson has argued that physical injury for a political purpose has been the most common form of political violence in this country; much more than arson, sabotage and other forms of destruction of property (Rawson 1968a, p. 19). Trends in Australian protests have generally been similar to those in other western industrial societies, although the actual amount of violence has been lower. Throughout the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century the participants have generally focused on issues relating to economic well-being. Rioting has tended to occur during periods of economic distress and has been of brief duration and low magnitude. Regardless of the participants' motives, and with few exceptions, the events in question have been limited to periods of war, economic decline, or labour-management tensions. Reactions on the part of organised workers to what they viewed as threats to economic well-being constituted the bulk of such act...

Officially, 5 government officials assassinated in one week, including two top military leaders, many more according to sources in Bujumbura, opposition leaders terrorized, tens of civilians being killed across the county daily, mostly in the populous city quarters of Cibitoke and Buterere. Burundi is up in flames.  However, beyond the assassinations, the most damaging factor appears to be the non lethal weapon: rumor, intoxication, and intimidation. Many are labelling the non-lethal weapon as psychological warfare. Hence, Burundi is squeezed between the lethal conflict and the toxic psychological warfare. And  fingers are being pointed to the obvious culprit: the Rwandan government. According to sources within the Burundian Government, there is no doubt that Rwandan military and intelligence services are behind the chaos, slowly morphing into civil war, in Burundi.   Sources in Rwanda have been quick to confirm and even have given names to AfroAm...

Whereas the financial crisis in Mexico in 1982 had to do with external debt and took a long time for recovery the peso crisis of 1994 had little to do with external but instead was due to a short-term foreign exchange problem that was handled relatively quickly. In part, this quick recovery was due to the quick response of the U.S. government and the IMF in providing loans or loan guarantees. Some of the financial aid packages were prepared even before the peso crisis occurred as part of the structure associated with the North American Free Trade Alliance (NAFTA). At the time NAFTA was approved in 1993 the economic future of Mexico looked bright. As a result of the recovery program from the 1982 financial crisis the Government of Mexico had reduced its deficit even though it had also undertaken many program to alleviate problems of public health and education. Although conditions looked good for Mexico in 1993, 1994 was a very bad year for Mexico in many ways. On New Year'...

LS: Do you think the hegemony of the US in the world declined because of the action that followed 9/11? For example it seems as if the true beneficiaries of the War on Terror are China and Russia. PDS: Well, let us go through that bit by bit. One of the major consequences of 9/11 was the invasion of Iraq and I think there is almost no one who … everyone would agree that American power in the world and particularly in the Middle East has been eroded because of the invasion of Iraq. It has resulted in first of all in the election, if you want democracy in Iraq then the majority are going to rule and the majority are Shi’a, so you now have a Shi’a government in Iraq. And it is much more friendly to Iran than it is to the United States. Many people could have – and did – predict this. It is not rocket science, it is pretty obvious. That also has led to major tensions between the US and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia historically — whether they should be or not can be debated – but histori...

It is clear, as everyone who has studied these matters closely and impartially concurs, that there have been cover-ups of the CIA’s relationships to first Oswald and later al-Mihdar – cover-ups which in both cases have not yet been adequately resolved. A reasonable conclusion from the available evidence is that the cover-ups were in order to conceal prior CIA operational interest in the designated subjects, just as in the case of Ali Mohamed in the early 1990s. It could of course be a coincidence that people of operational interest to the CIA became designated subjects in the deep events of JFK and 9/11. Another, more disturbing possibility is that those responsible for these events knew of the CIA’s operational interest, and exploited it in such a way as to ensure that the government would be embarrassed into covering up what really happened on those days. A lot of books about 9/11, including my own, have focused on the roles played by Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld on that day. But ...

Fraud experts have uncovered "significant" links between insurance fraudsters and terrorist groups, but wider publicity of the issue by the industry is being prevented amid police concerns. Market views on instances of insurance fraud funding terrorism were aired following a speech by Metropolitan Police commissioner Mark Rowley at the British Bankers' Association conference in late September, in which he claimed "a third of counter-terrorism policing", as measured by arrests, was fraud-related. In particular, Rowley linked false claims on home and motor insurance policies to the travel of radicalised British Muslims to join the Islamic State movement in Syria and Iraq. One senior fraud source told Post links between terrorism and fraud are widely recognised in the insurance industry. "We all know this type of activity is funded in various ways," they said. "I have little doubt some of the things we have looked at will have links wit...

British Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a remarkable and powerful speechMonday on combatting radical Islamist extremism, a topic many other Western leaders including President Obama avoid tackling head on. Cameron, speaking at a Birmingham school, appropriately distinguished between "Islamist extremism" – a fundamentalist political ideology with religious underpinnings and "Islam the religion." He directly addressed moderate British Muslims, framing the struggle against radical Islam as a phenomenon that is plaguing the Muslim community. "I know too how much you hate the extremists who are seeking to divide our communities and how you loathe that damage they do," he said. Cameron defined what he saw as the roots of the threat. While many point to poverty or Western wars in the Middle East, Cameron explicitly called out Islamist ideology and radicalization as driving the violent threat facing British and other societies. There is no ...