Entering 2020, there are a host of geopolitical trends that will significantly impact global security throughout the coming year and beyond.
Many of these challenges overlap and interact with each other and will be impacted by developments in emerging technologies, demographic shifts, and socio-cultural factors.
On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the trial of 24 suspected jihadists linked to the massacre that killed 12 people at the satirical weekly has opened in Paris. Only five of the suspects are expected to appear in the dock, with most presumed dead in Iraq or Syria.
German prosecutors have filed terror charges against a Syrian man accused of commanding a unit of Islamic State group fighters in his homeland.
Federal Prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw is constantly on the alert for terrorism in Belgium, but is particularly concerned about “inspired terrorism,” such as online influence and radicalisation of people in front of their computer screens, he explained on Thursday to Sudpresse.
The Islamic State (IS) extremist group has claimed responsibility for an attack in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Ingushetia, in which a police officer was killed.
Active armed conflicts continues to ravage parts of Africa be it as a result of the state versus terrorist groups or infighting between political factions, a typical case of the latter being South Sudan.
A key Iranian response to the U.S. strike that killed Qods Force Commander Qasem Soleimani will be to try to permanently oust the 6,000 U.S. troops currently stationed in Iraq.
Turkish President Erdogan recently suggested that Ankara might intervene militarily in Libya if requested by the government in Tripoli.
Turkey, which signed a military and economic accord with the Libyan government in November, could deprive Greece and the Greek Cypriots of large swaths of their oil and gas exploration areas and force Egypt and Israel to negotiate with Turkey over the construction of natural gas pipelines to Europe.
Erdoğan seems to think that his best defense in the Mediterranean power game is an offense.
One emerging power in Libya, however, is not a Western state actor…. Russia has the potential to step into the Libyan theater with a bigger proxy and direct force, to establish its second permanent Mediterranean military presence.