Oversight and Accountability to Improve Security Sector Governance in Africa

Oversight, accountability, and governance of the security sector are essential ingredients to a capable and effective force, mitigating infractions and contributing to a learning environment that improves future practices.

Highlights

  • The security sector is equally subject to the law and oversight institutions as any other public agency.
  • Weak security sector oversight institutions inhibit security sector professionalism in Africa. Stronger internal and external oversight is an essential element of enhancing security sector effectiveness.
  • Security organs should construct institutional frameworks that nurture professionalism and a consistent apolitical posture.
  • When security actors allow themselves to become politicized, they erode the credibility of security institutions among the population and can themselves become a security threat to citizens.

ISIS Redux: The Central Syria Insurgency in August 2023

ISIS carried out at least 17 confirmed attacks in August in the Homs, Hama, Raqqa, and Deir Ez Zor governorates. These attacks killed at least 40 pro-Assad regime soldiers and wounded 21 additional soldiers and two civilians. There were also seven high quality* attacks during August. August was the most violent month in central Syria since the end of ISIS’s spring campaign when the group heavily targeted civilian truffle hunters across eastern Homs and western Deir Ez Zor. However, as in the months following those attacks, August’s activity was focused on regime security forces rather than civilians.

When Will Washington Make Central Asia A Priority? – Analysis

The American filmmaker Woody Allen said, ““Eighty percent of success is showing up.” If he is correct, America is not succeeding in Central Asia.

But the rulers of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and China, Xi Jinping, leave nothing to chance: Xj has visited every one of the republics and has been to Kazakhstan four times and Uzbekistan three times; Putin has visited Kazakhstan twenty-seven times (the countries share a 7,644-kilometre border), and has been to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan at least a dozen times each.

Robert Reich: 50 Years Ago, Henry Kissinger And Death Of Democracy In Chile – OpEd

As Chile marks the 50th anniversary today of the coup that brought strongman Augusto Pinochet to power for almost 17 years — toppling Chile’s democratically-elected socialist government, and resulting in the murders and “disappearances” of thousands of Pinochet’s political opponents — it’s important to recall the central role played by Richard Nixon and Nixon’s national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, in this atrocity.

Torrid Times in Eastern Syria

A U.S.-Iran understanding may have calmed tensions, but this was followed by Kurdish-Arab fighting that did precisely the opposite.

The summer was hot in northeastern Syria, as has been the transition to autumn. The season began with increased tensions between U.S. forces, which maintain a presence in the northeast, on the one hand, and Russia, Iran, and the Syrian regime on the other. According to U.S. officials and leaked documents from the Pentagon, since late 2022 Moscow, Tehran, and Damascus have been cooperating to increase pressure on U.S. forces and drive them out of the northeast. Russia has harassed U.S. and allied aircraft, and has also damaged U.S. drones. Iran-linked groups, in turn, have attacked American forces and carried out escalatory moves such as transporting anti-aircraft missiles into Deir al-Zor Governorate.

How Countries Prepare for Population Growth and Decline

In early 2023, India surpassed China as the most populous country in the world with the latter having 850,000 fewer people by the end of 2022—marking the country’s first population decline since famine struck from 1959 to 1961. While this reduction may seem modest considering China’s 1.4 billion population currently, an ongoing decline is anticipated, with UN projections suggesting that China’s population could dwindle to below 800 million by 2100.

Al-Qaeda Magazine Released On 9/11 Anniversary Threatens Future Attack On U.S. More Devastating Than 9/11

On September 10, 2023, the Al-Sahab Media Foundation, the official outlet of Al-Qaeda’s Central Command, released Issue 11 of its Arabic-language Ummah Wahidah (One Ummah) periodic magazine. The current issue is “dedicated to the 22nd anniversary of the #September_attacks,” perpetrated by Al-Qaeda against the U.S. on September 11, 2001.[1]

Operation Northwoods: The Cold War Conspiracy that Never Was

Every so often, history presents us with stories that sound more like Hollywood scripts than factual events. Among the pantheon of could-have-been episodes from the past, Operation Northwoods stands out as one of the most startling and controversial.

De la Covid-19 au changement climatique : Les véhicules de l’autoritarisme global

Comme je l’ai indiqué par le passé, le monde occidental a été à deux doigts d’être complètement assujetti et placé sous une tyrannie médicale perpétuelle par une coalition de responsables gouvernementaux, d’intérêts globalistes et d’entreprises partenaires. Les analystes du mouvement pour la liberté ont souvent parlé de «conspiration ouverte», mais ce n’est qu’avec la réponse à la pandémie que nous avons vraiment vu le masque tomber et l’ordre du jour se révéler.

Goodbye to Political Zionism, Hello to Religious Zionism

The meteoric rise of the Religious Zionists, a sleight of hand that outdoes master Netanyahu, surprises everyone and delights few. How did this happen, who let it happen, and what can be done after the entrenchment of those who hold a prayer book in one hand and a rifle in the other hand? What happened to Theodore Herzl’s Political Zionism and its successor, David Ben Gurion’s Labor Zionism?