Excerpt: Libyan forces reportedly used Kargu-2 drones to autonomously seek out and attack human targets. This is the first recorded case of using a self-hunting drone against people. Drone experts say this extremely dangerous development could be dangerous to people far beyond the traditional battlefield.
Excerpt: In April 2014, the hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons was on a yacht cruising in the Caribbean when he tweeted about the 276 girls kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram from a secondary school in Chibok, northeastern Nigeria. The hashtag he copied lit a matchstick that inflamed the world. Politicians and celebrities followed suit …
Excerpt: Extremists “are using less and less phone lines and more and more internet connections,” said French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin at a recent press conference. It makes a lot of sense: for one, everyone’s using less phone lines and more internet connections, and in addition, internet conversations can be harder to track down than …
Excerpt: “On April 21, a car packed with explosives detonated in the parking lot of the Serena Hotel in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s restive Baluchistan province. Five people were killed and another twelve were injured in the attack (Dawn, April 21). Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the deadly explosion (The News, April 23). …
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan: Is China in its Crosshairs? Jamestown Foundation. Read More »
Excerpt: “The present report reviews the progress made in 2020 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in supporting Member States in becoming party to and implementing the international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism, as well as in implementing relevant United Nations resolutions. The report also highlights key achievements of the Office …
Excerpt: In 2014, President Xi Jinping launched strict new measures – ‘nets above and snares below’ – following a string of violent incidents. Beijing’s narrative has been hampered by past downplaying of terrorist events for fear of stirring ethnic tensions or damaging the image of Xinjiang.
Excerpt: “India, Pakistan, China and other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will hold a joint anti-terrorism exercise this year, the eight-member bloc said. The decision to hold the joint exercise “Pabbi-Antiterror-2021” was announced during the 36th meeting of the Council of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on March 18. …
India, Pakistan, China to participate in SCO joint anti-terrorism exercise this year Read More »
Excerpt: “A newly released report shows faster and wider harvesting of data about people was identified as a priority for bolstering counter-terrorism efforts. The 135-page report about how the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) performed prior to the mosque attacks warned “data mining” may not go down well with the public but said the service should …
Excerpt: “LONDON: Arab interior ministers approved the establishment of a group of experts to monitor, analyze and exchange information on terrorist threats, as tensions in the region continue to pose a security risk. Interior Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud bin Naif led the Saudi Arabia delegation at the 38th session of the Council of …
Arab interior ministers approve expert group to monitor terrorist threats. Arab News. Read More »
This week in history, on 1st March 1562, the Massacre of Vassy took place, beginning 36 years of the French Wars of Religion and use of the word ‘massacre’ as we know it. Symbolic politico-religious spaces and furious, mass casualty
attacks against defenceless (often worshipping) civilians characterised this period. Like many historic uprisings, what preceded such incidents in England and France were creeping cultural-religious restrictions imposed by the nation
state. For the persecuted, co-existence looked increasingly unlikely and the choice seemed to be system destruction, doom, or departure.
Funnily enough, the 1st of March was also the day Pioneer Missionary Hudson Taylor landed in Shanghai in 1854. Taylor popularised the approach of missionaries living and dressing like the people they seek to evangelise.
Community-building efforts by a church in modern Virginia also relied on a nuanced understanding of populations to achieve growth (Ponder, 2021).
CTCB State of Play Newsletter No. 7 explores political violence as a human behavioural pattern: In cults, culture, and scene-making materials. The role of authority figures, often those deemed to have special knowledge or morality,
features prominently. Public figures and cleverly publicised texts can catalyse and cohere widespread dissatisfaction and aggression into movements against a defined evil.
Historic incidents of terrorism and suicide extremism are able to violate the status quo of societies and initiate a restructuring of relations and authority. This means chaos for the incumbent or dominant culture, and manifest dreams
of progress for the oppressed. As the saying goes, “Blood makes the grass grow greener,” yielding a bountiful harvest for survival.
The anti-scenic effect of an abnormally violent event for most leads to a sense that: This is not Paris (Saint Medard riot, Applebaum, 2015), this is not America (Capitol incident in Carlin, 2021), and this is not New Zealand
(post-Tarrant, picture in Thorpe, 2019). For some, it may be a call to “March Forth”.
We hope you enjoy the March fifth issue, and have provided a summary and some extras for the material recommended in Theme 1, as the panel discussion is quite long.
Credit to Christianity Today for the service ‘Today in Christian History’
Porter, D. (2021, February 23). Reading While Not Black. Christianity Today.
This week’s CTCB State of Play Newsletter No 6 addresses hybrid power arrangements, opportunistic criminal activity in areas of reduced state sovereignty, and societal and police paramilitarisation. Soft power initiatives, diffused social hierarchies, and security voids seem to be contributing to the phenomenon of cultural militarisation and citizen militia formation. It is interesting to note …
CTCB State of Play No. 6: Gaps, Flat World, Weak States, and the Fog of War Read More »
Covid 19 speeds up tech adoption in security sector
The Straits Times interviews Mr. Yaniv Peretz on outcome-based contracts, remote security, and industry evolution away from physical and human factors
23 February 2021
Counter Terrorism Certification Board has established and maintains voluntary and comprehensive certifications schemes. It grants the CCTP, CERO, CPSC and CITA certifications and maintains it as the recognized standard of excellence for competent security, military and law enforcement professionals.