Author: M Barbu

Can We Win in the ‘Gray Zone’?

The gray zone is the space between peace and war involving coercive actions that fall outside normal geopolitical competition between states but do not reach the level of armed conflict…. They usually seek to avoid a significant military response, though are often designed to intimidate and deter a target state by threatening further escalation.

[B]ut do liberal democracies in the 21st Century have the political will to do the dirty work that is necessary to win?

Western nations have multiple pre-emptive and reactive options to respond to gray zone actions directed against them or their allies, most effectively involving multilateral coordination. The objective should be to frustrate or deter, avoiding escalation that might lead to all-out conflict. Broadly, options fall into four categories: diplomatic, informational, economic and military.

Resurgence of Terrorism in Southeast Asia

A string of recent terrorist attacks and plots in Southeast Asia has authorities concerned over the enduring threat posed by regional terrorists.

Militant groups tied to the Islamic State have repeatedly sought to attack targets associated with Christians, including churches, as well as police.

From Pacifism To Violence and the Dialectic

I am trying to wrap my brain around the abyss between pacifism and violence as to the proper means to bring about socio-political change. And as to how to overcome that divide. Though not violent as a person, my basic impulse, my instinct in this regard, is belligerent: ultimately, I believe, it will be necessary to unleash a lethal war to the finish against Power, if only to assuage a burning anger buried in the human psyche against the psychopathological forces of Power intent on the destruction of the world. It is clear that the struggle is unfair since ONLY Power uses violence—primarily violence—a violence masked under countless euphemistic masks.

Yemen Is a Public Health Catastrophe

The war in Yemen—the Arab world’s poorest country—has reached new heights of sickness and death by the spreading of the coronavirus pandemic in a vulnerable and fragile population. The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic could be greater than the combined toll of war, disease and hunger over the last five years, according to Lise Grande, the U.N.’s head of humanitarian operations in Yemen.

Why separatist IPOB is thriving in Nigeria and how to curtail it

Though the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has denied any role in the attacks on the Nigeria Correctional Centre and Police formations in Imo State last Monday, the escalating violence is associated with the separatist group’s growing popularity in the South-East . The group, with its Eastern Security Network, provides a semblance of security for a people traumatized by incessant attacks in rural areas by violent herdsmen and bandits who destroy farms, attack or kill farmers, rape women, and spread death in forests.

Repatriating ISIS Foreign Fighters Is Key to Stemming Radicalization, Experts Say, but Many Countries Don’t Want Their Citizens Back

A review of the 10 countries that yielded the most individuals affiliated with ISIS found varying levels of commitment to repatriation and prosecution.

In the two years since the self-declared Islamic State lost its last physical stronghold in Raqqa, Syria, thousands of ISIS foreign fighters, along with their wives and children, have remained in limbo, mostly in Iraqi custody or in Kurdish detention camps in northeastern Syria.

Israel Reportedly Attacks Iranian Ship in Red Sea

Israel has informed the United States that it is behind Tuesday’s attack on an Iranian reconnaissance ship in the Red Sea, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. According to several reports, Israel’s commando naval forces struck the Iranian vessel, called Saviz, off the shores of Eritrea, responding to last month’s two incidents in which Israeli-owned cargo ships were targeted in the Persian Gulf by Iranian missiles. On Wednesday, Tehran’s foreign ministry issued its first official comment, acknowledging the ship was hit but adding that only minor damage was sustained and that no one onboard was hurt. The latest incident is a noticeable escalation in the ongoing hostile naval exchanges between the two enemy nations. In March, two separate commercial vessels owned by Israeli shipping magnates were hit by Iranian missiles, causing limited damage. Israel, meanwhile, has over the years reportedly sabotaged dozens of Iranian ships it has suspected of illegally carrying arms and oil to Syria and other neighboring countries.