Expert Comment
"Touching, tasteful, unifyingly defiant" - Dr Charles Walton on Charlie Hebdo front cover
Commenting on the news that this week's edition of Charlie Hebdo will feature a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed on its front page, Dr Charles Walton said: “Touching, tasteful, unifyingly defiant. It manages to ‘blaspheme' with its depiction of the Prophet but without alienating Muslims by making their religion appear to be the inevitable source of terrorism."
That MI5 were Adebolajo and Adebowale "not enough to condemn the service": Dr Christopher Moran
"The fact that MI5 was aware of Adebolajo and Adebowale prior to the attack, possibly even trying to recruit them, is not enough to condemn the service for failing to prevent his death.", says Dr Christopher Moran of Dept. Politics and International Studies
Foreign Secretary downplays threat: Iraq, ISIS and the UK
When the Foreign Secretary spoke in the House of Commons about events in Iraq he restated the UK government’s estimate that 400 British citizens have been active in the war in Syria, and therefore the assumption is that some of these individuals will be fighting with ISIS in Iraq. Whilst this figure may be surprising to many, it actually downplays the nature and scale of the threat faced by the UK and the challenges it poses to the UK’s security services.
Al Shabaab open new front in Kenya with Mpeketoni attack
An attack on the coastal town of Mpeketoni has left more than 60 Kenyans dead. There have now been more than 100 attacks in Kenya since the invasion of southern Somalia in October 2011. This is the "blowback" that many dreaded, and it is proving impossible for the Kenya security forces to contain.