https://www.scmp.com/rss/142165/feed Hagai M. Segal is a leading authority on geopolitics, counterterrorism and the Middle East. He lectures at New York University London, served for a decade on the London First Security and Resilience Advisory Board, and advises and consults with numerous public and private-sector organisations and corporations across Europe, Asia and Australasia. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Every dollar and every bullet the United States diverts to Israel for its war in Gaza is a dollar and a bullet that is not being sent to Ukraine. The explosion of conflict in the Middle East is thus rare welcome news for Russian President Vladimir Putin, finally providing a distraction to Ukraine’s military and political backers. Russia is looking to take every advantage it can. The situation has also offered China an opportunity, if less directly. The war in Gaza and the threat of its spread to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3240741/israel-gaza-war-driving-us-distraction-benefits-russia-and-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3240741/israel-gaza-war-driving-us-distraction-benefits-russia-and-china?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Nov 2023 21:30:18 +0000 This time could be different. Iranians have protested before – in 2009, large numbers rose up after an election widely seen as rigged – but not since the 1979 Islamic Revolution have scenes like the recent ones been seen across Iran. More than three weeks into the current protests, it is becoming clear that truly historic events are unfolding. But the Iranian regime is not done yet – it is still too early to know if this will be a true second revolution. These protests should come as no... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3195795/iran-rocked-mahsa-amini-protests-second-revolution-not-yet-cards?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3195795/iran-rocked-mahsa-amini-protests-second-revolution-not-yet-cards?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Oct 2022 18:30:08 +0000 Europe’s political elites think they knows best, much to the anger of their own populace. For decades, leaders across the European Union have not been listening. As ordinary citizens suffer the consequences of leaders’ failures to address people’s basic needs, an old and ominous element has been waiting to profit – Europe’s far right. Frighteningly for anyone familiar with Europe’s fascist past, the far right’s time might have come again. Far-right parties have consistently maintained modest... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3194238/far-rights-victory-italy-latest-blow-eus-legacy-tolerance-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3194238/far-rights-victory-italy-latest-blow-eus-legacy-tolerance-and?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Sep 2022 17:30:15 +0000 Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader who was on the US’ “most wanted” list for over 20 years, is dead. The Americans finally got their man – yet it is the location of his death that is most striking, raising questions about the Taliban government in Afghanistan and the terror threat it may pose. Less than a year after the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan, Zawahiri was found living in the heart of the Afghan capital Kabul, seemingly a welcome guest of the Afghan government. The emir of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3188383/al-qaeda-leader-zawahiri-dead-afghanistan-terror-threat-remains?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3188383/al-qaeda-leader-zawahiri-dead-afghanistan-terror-threat-remains?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Aug 2022 19:30:16 +0000 In 1920, as the terms of the Treaty of Versailles started to bite, a British woman in Germany wrote a note in her diary. Evelyn, Princess Blücher – English wife of a German aristocrat – was already certain that Germans would seek vengeance on the foreign nations imposing crippling punishment on them for Germany’s actions in World War I. “An undying hatred will be smouldering in the heart of every German,” she wrote, “over and over again I hear the same refrain, ‘We shall hate our conquerors with... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/world/article/3180483/russia-has-pay-price-ukraine-war-europe-must-avoid-crippling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/world/article/3180483/russia-has-pay-price-ukraine-war-europe-must-avoid-crippling?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Jun 2022 19:30:17 +0000 Never get involved in a land war in Asia. Anyone who has seen the 1987 action-adventure film The Princess Bride can tell you that. Yet, it is a lesson repeatedly ignored by US policymakers, culminating in the events we have witnessed in Kabul and across Afghanistan. Wide-ranging implications of the Taliban’s victory will be with us for years, and China is vying to be a major beneficiary. Tony Blair, who took Britain into Afghanistan, has called the US departure from the country a dangerous... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3147819/us-leaving-afghanistan-clears-lucrative-risky-path-china-and-others?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3147819/us-leaving-afghanistan-clears-lucrative-risky-path-china-and-others?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Sep 2021 21:50:25 +0000 The Trump administration’s announcement that a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no longer the only option under consideration has caused both interest and alarm. For decades, under both Democrat and Republican presidents, the two-state solution has been the default endgame option: Israel living alongside, and at peace with, a fully independent Palestine. Yet Donald Trump, in a press conference with the visiting Israeli prime minister, suggested a dramatic change of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2072578/can-trumps-words-one-state-solution-israeli-palestinian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2072578/can-trumps-words-one-state-solution-israeli-palestinian?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Feb 2017 06:45:44 +0000 In 1815, as the Napoleonic wars that had ravaged the continent came to an end, Europe’s great powers fashioned a new political order to establish and maintain peace. This order collapsed a century later, with humanity consumed by the devastation of the first world war. Another century on and the world is again teetering on the edge of the geopolitical abyss. Many commentators have characterised 2016 as an annus horribilis, but it is in 2017 when we will see whether the geopolitical nightmare... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2059515/trump-brexit-and-simmering-tension-asia-can-global-security?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2059515/trump-brexit-and-simmering-tension-asia-can-global-security?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Jan 2017 02:15:15 +0000 Across the Middle East and North Africa, autocrats, dictators and monarchs are becoming more worried as the weeks pass. The long-standing rulers in Tunisia and Egypt have been forced from office by their people, while thousands have taken to the streets in Yemen, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Bahrain, Jordan and Syria. Rulers watch, in a nightmare from which they cannot wake, as the dominoes tumble around them. And as the 'revolution' spreads, Asia may not be immune. In each state affected, the... https://www.scmp.com/article/739051/if-push-comes-shove?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/739051/if-push-comes-shove?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Indonesia's security forces are again celebrating a major coup against Islamist terrorism following their killing last week of Bali bomb mastermind and Islamist leader Dulmatin. It is the latest headline success by the Indonesians against regional militant Islamists - following the killing of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and Malaysian al-Qaeda figure Noordin Mohamed Top in September last year - and has been greeted with quiet satisfaction by counter-terror professionals across the globe. Dulmatin, an... https://www.scmp.com/article/708696/common-enemy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/708696/common-enemy?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0000 Following the much-publicised unrest earlier in the year in Xinjiang , and accusations of Chinese state repression of Muslims there, it was only a matter of time before the al-Qaeda leadership made dramatic threats against China. That time has come, and it should have caused genuine concern in Beijing that the threat has come directly from a senior al-Qaeda figure. Hong Kong leaders should also watch developments closely. Last Friday, a video emerged featuring Abu Yahya al-Libi, a militant... https://www.scmp.com/article/695506/al-qaeda-threat-china-worry-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/695506/al-qaeda-threat-china-worry-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:00:00 +0000 History has shown us, time and again, that revolution often occurs when authoritarian regimes take the obedience of their subjects for granted, and do as they wish as they naively ignore growing discontent, only to then discover that they have pushed the people to breaking point. History may just have repeated itself in Iran. In scenes reminiscent of the popular uprisings that precipitated the collapse of the Soviet bloc in the late 1980s - and, indeed, Iran's own revolution in 1979 - Iran has... https://www.scmp.com/article/684062/history-danger-repeating-itself-iran?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/684062/history-danger-repeating-itself-iran?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:00:00 +0000 Very rarely have so many policymakers and military leaders, in so many countries, taken such notice of events in Sri Lanka. For while the Americans, Russians, Turks, Israelis, and numerous African and other Asian governments, struggle with 'asymmetrical warfare' actors - the insurgents and terrorists we hear so much about - the Sri Lankans seem to have achieved something most experts considered impossible. Despite decades of brutal conflict, they have wiped out their adversaries with one... https://www.scmp.com/article/681801/tigers-defeat-no-model-success-elsewhere?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/681801/tigers-defeat-no-model-success-elsewhere?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 May 2009 16:00:00 +0000 The attack in Lahore on Sri Lankan cricketers has again turned the world's attention on Pakistan and terrorists who seemingly operate within the nation with a worrying level of impunity. Yet elements of the latest attacks may point to a new and dangerous dimension to domestic terrorism in Pakistan. All indications so far point to an Islamist hand in the atrocity. It is quite feasible that the perpetrators are locally based international Islamists - members of al-Qaeda or the Pakistani... https://www.scmp.com/article/672696/pakistan-may-have-seen-enemy-within?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/672696/pakistan-may-have-seen-enemy-within?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0000 As numerous international actors struggle to find a resolution to the growing standoff with Iran over its nuclear ambitions, increasing efforts are being made to discover one vital thing - the Islamic republic's actual intentions. Discerning Iran's precise nuclear policy has become a matter of paramount importance, not just for Israel and the United States, but for China, Russia, the European Union, the UN and Nato. If Tehran will stop at nothing to develop a nuclear bomb, then a major... https://www.scmp.com/article/648671/second-guessing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/648671/second-guessing?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Many people are likely to assume that the current tensions between the US and China are firmly centred in Asia - with Taiwan, North Korea or Central Asia as the likely area for any future conflict. But another less-headline-grabbing continent is starting to dominate Sino-American rivalries: Africa. Echoing the struggle between European colonial powers over African territory and resources in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there is once again a 'scramble for Africa'. Last week, US... https://www.scmp.com/article/629602/us-vies-china-new-scramble-africa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/629602/us-vies-china-new-scramble-africa?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has confirmed he will fulfil his election promise to withdraw all his nation's military personally from Iraq by the middle of the year. Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the Australian chief of defence forces, said that his country had done 'its bit' in southern Iraq; it was time to pull out the 1,540 army, air force and navy personnel. Opinion polls have suggested that some 80 per cent of Australians support the withdrawal. Australia will, however,... https://www.scmp.com/article/628432/australia-stands-beside-us-except-iraq?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/628432/australia-stands-beside-us-except-iraq?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:00:00 +0000 Benazir Bhutto's long-awaited return to Pakistan last Thursday would, her supporters hoped, herald a new dawn in the nation's chequered political history. Instead, it will always be associated with the terrorist atrocities that greeted it. Her return was designed to apply huge pressure on beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf, but now both politicians' efforts and attention will be dominated by those events. Despite warnings of possible attacks and offers of helicopter transport, Ms Bhutto... https://www.scmp.com/article/612575/pakistans-slow-decline-violent-instability?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/612575/pakistans-slow-decline-violent-instability?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:00:00 +0000 A few short months ago, the US and French governments could hardly conceal their mutual mistrust and contempt; the relationship between the previously close allies had become ice-cold. But how quickly times can change. Since the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as president in May, there has been a radical transformation in French policy, and an immediate improvement in US-France bilateral relations as a consequence. It is Mr Sarkozy who has initiated the change. Suddenly, there is an entente... https://www.scmp.com/article/609194/sarkozys-france-back-us-fold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/609194/sarkozys-france-back-us-fold?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:00:00 +0000 A key event occurred in Iraq last week, a marker in the country's shift from dependence on outside protectors to being able to police itself. US President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq on Sunday, September 2, carefully timed to precede the release of official US reports on his policies for the country. But the key event was the withdrawal of British troops, at the same time, from their central base in Basra city. Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Sanders, the co-ordinator of the... https://www.scmp.com/article/607569/caught-iraq-dilemma-withdrawal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/607569/caught-iraq-dilemma-withdrawal?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:00:00 +0000 On the 11th of this month, the US public will remember those who fell on that fateful day six years ago. The nation will also be remembering the thousands more who have fallen since, in the name of defeating the perpetrators of September 11. While in past years that 'sacrifice' was accepted by a great many Americans, this year's anniversary, particularly, will be observed in the dark shadow of the nightmare that has become Iraq. The Iraq policy - establishing a stable and viable democracy in... https://www.scmp.com/article/606727/too-hot-handle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/606727/too-hot-handle?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef has flown home, leaving behind him a growing scandal in Australia in the wake of an astonishing legal and political soap opera that followed the attempted terror attacks in London and Glasgow in late June. The long-term legacy of his case for Australia is likely to prove significant: politically, legally and - most importantly - sociologically. The comedy of errors began with the hospital registrar being arrested and charged on July 2 with 'reckless support'... https://www.scmp.com/article/602553/sowing-sociological-seeds-discontent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/602553/sowing-sociological-seeds-discontent?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:00:00 +0000 In the two years since the July 7 London bombings, attention in Britain has increasingly been focused on the sociological and cultural context from which the attacks, and their perpetrators, emerged. It has now been recognised that the defeat of Islamist terrorism will not come about by military means alone, but in combination with long-term concerned efforts to address this sociological and cultural context at home and abroad. However, there remains little agreement as to the true nature of... https://www.scmp.com/article/599032/social-challenges-british-way-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/599032/social-challenges-british-way-life?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Early last month, the tiny Christian community of Charsadda, in northwest Pakistan, received a stark ultimatum: immediately convert to Islam or 'face the consequences'. This naturally caused great concern, but also came as little surprise. Assaults on Christians, both political and actual, have become increasingly common throughout the Muslim and Arab worlds in recent years - from secular nationalists and radical Islamists alike. The phenomenon of Islamophobia in the Christian-dominated... https://www.scmp.com/article/596413/rising-religious-pride-and-prejudice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/596413/rising-religious-pride-and-prejudice?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Jun 2007 16:00:00 +0000 To the uninitiated, the latest crisis and violence to hit Lebanon may seem bizarre. Lebanese government forces - who have never been deployed to take on or disarm the Hezbollah militia - are suddenly fighting pitched battles with 'foreign' Palestinian elements based on Lebanese soil, in the country's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. On close examination, however, the crisis helps explain the continued chaos at the heart of Lebanese society, and its ever- increasing... https://www.scmp.com/article/594683/lebanon-and-palestinian-factor?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/594683/lebanon-and-palestinian-factor?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 May 2007 16:00:00 +0000 It is three years since the Madrid train bombings - the first Islamist terror attack staged in Europe - and thus an appropriate moment to evaluate Europe's experience with al-Qaeda since that dark day. Madrid was a marker in the history of radical Islamist terror, and a catalyst for change in European policy towards global terrorism. It represented the first tangible proof of a new form of radical Islamist terrorism. Across the continent, states that had not felt al-Qaeda was their... https://www.scmp.com/article/584964/blast-heard-across-europe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/584964/blast-heard-across-europe?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:00:00 +0000 It has become all too familiar, sadly, to hear news of terror attacks in India targeting civilians. The latest atrocity hit the country on Sunday - the bombing of the 'Friendship Express' train service between India and Pakistan, killing at least 68. However, this attack may have stimulated something quite unfamiliar: agreement and co-operation between two old adversaries. In the past, such incidents brought mutual accusations and recriminations, but times have changed. The attack near... https://www.scmp.com/article/582486/when-atrocity-breeds-affinity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/582486/when-atrocity-breeds-affinity?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Feb 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Few observers will be surprised to hear that radical Islamists will, this year and beyond, keep trying to carry out terrorist operations in Britain. But the form of the next attack may be very different from what security services have been preparing for. That was demonstrated by the recent revelations of an alleged plot to kidnap - and broadcast the killing of - a Muslim British serviceman. Terrorists are always adapting and innovating; the authorities constantly playing catch-up. It's now... https://www.scmp.com/article/580926/cats-chasing-deadly-mice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/580926/cats-chasing-deadly-mice?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Feb 2007 16:00:00 +0000 If there were any doubts that Asia, and the Asia-Pacific region, needs to remain vigilant to the threat from terrorism this year, they should have been quickly dispelled. First, Bangkok was shocked on New Year's Eve by eight co-ordinated bombings. Then, on January 5, mainland police raided an East Turkistan Islamist Movement 'terror camp' in Xinjiang region . And, on January 11, there were three bombings in the Philippines as the country began hosting the Asean summit. It is of little... https://www.scmp.com/article/578835/why-we-cant-drop-our-guard?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/578835/why-we-cant-drop-our-guard?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Jan 2007 16:00:00 +0000 If the headlines in Britain last week are to be believed, the UK is now al-Qaeda's No1 target: IRA-style cells are being set up in preparation for a major terror campaign across the country. These 'revelations' rightly highlight a genuine set of threats facing Britain, and Europe at large, from Islamist extremist elements. But they have also demonstrated the continued misunderstanding by many of the true nature of al-Qaeda - and the hysteria that often permeates public debate on the... https://www.scmp.com/article/568824/keep-al-qaeda-threat-perspective?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/568824/keep-al-qaeda-threat-perspective?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Oct 2006 16:00:00 +0000 Immediately after the recent bloodless coup in Thailand, a vigorous debate began over what stance the military-led leadership would take on the Muslim insurgency in the south that has claimed more than 1,700 lives since the start of 2004. Since the coup, the situation in Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces has shown few signs of abating. In the first week, two people were killed, police officers were shot at, two police stations and a military base were stormed, and a school was... https://www.scmp.com/article/568286/confrontation-negotiation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/568286/confrontation-negotiation?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Oct 2006 16:00:00 +0000 It has been an interesting few weeks for those who revel in speculating about the whereabouts and health of the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden. The French newspaper L'Est Republicain last month published a leaked French intelligence report saying the al-Qaeda leader may have died recently in Pakistan - according to Saudi sources. Ten days later, The Washington Post published supposedly high-level al-Qaeda correspondence: it backed the long-standing claims that bin Laden is hiding... https://www.scmp.com/article/567472/which-side-pakistan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/567472/which-side-pakistan?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:00:00 +0000 It was hailed as a breakthrough by both sides when India and Pakistan announced a new attempt to repair relations by restarting peace talks. The leaders of the two historic adversaries agreed to the talks this month, during the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Cuba. Most of the reaction has focused on the prospects of an end to long-standing Indo-Pakistani tensions. But behind the headlines there lies a quite different motivator for the current drive for detente - regional Islamist... https://www.scmp.com/article/565773/pakistan-walks-risky-road?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/565773/pakistan-walks-risky-road?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Sep 2006 16:00:00 +0000 If the UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Lebanon is to work, much will depend on the effectiveness of the UN force entrusted with implementing it. But previous experience hardly makes one optimistic that it will have either the authority or the trust to do the job. Arab and Israeli governments have long-standing reservations about the UN and its role in the region. Foremost in Israeli minds is the UN's role in the prelude to the 1967 Six-Day war. The UN deployed an... https://www.scmp.com/article/560345/un-task-peacemaker?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/560345/un-task-peacemaker?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:00:00 +0000 As the conflict across the Israeli-Lebanese border threatens to explode into all-out war, attention naturally focuses on the likely intentions and strategy of the two key protagonists - Israel, and the Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah guerillas. The current conflagration erupted after Hezbollah, in an attack across the border into Israel, captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others. The timing of the raid, after months of calm in the border region, could not have been more deliberate. As... https://www.scmp.com/article/557383/dangerous-days-middle-east?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/557383/dangerous-days-middle-east?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Jul 2006 16:00:00 +0000 Most negative attention in the run-up to the football World Cup has concerned the Europe-wide scourge of hooliganism, but German authorities are looking to more pressing matters: the dual threat of political violence from far-right extremists and radical Islamist terrorists is increasingly preoccupying them. The build-up to the tournament, which begins tomorrow, has been accompanied by a set of racially motivated attacks, and wider security alerts and concerns. In April, an Ethiopian man... https://www.scmp.com/article/551921/germanys-goal-defeat-dual-threat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/551921/germanys-goal-defeat-dual-threat?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Jun 2006 16:00:00 +0000 One line stands out from the long-awaited report into last year's July 7 London bombings, released last week by the British Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC). It says: 'Across the whole of the counter-terrorism community, the development of the home-grown threat and the radicalisation of British citizens were not fully understood or applied to strategic thinking.' It is a realisation that not only dominates the thoughts of those investigating the London atrocities, but... https://www.scmp.com/article/548964/still-learning-lessons?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/548964/still-learning-lessons?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 May 2006 16:00:00 +0000 At first glance, the two trips seemed to have little in common. First, British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a high-profile tour of the Asia-Pacific region last month; then his foreign secretary, Jack Straw, toured Britain and visited Iraq with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. But both trips spoke volumes about a subtle, yet significant, change in the spin of American and British foreign policy. The two nations have decided to get 'cuddly'. That means moving, once and for all, away... https://www.scmp.com/article/547235/big-charm-offensive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/547235/big-charm-offensive?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 May 2006 16:00:00 +0000 The risk of attack by radical Islamists against a state like Japan - having no history of conflict with the Islamic world or any theological importance to the Islamic faith - has always seemed low. Times and priorities change, however, and today the Asian economic powerhouse is squarely in al-Qaeda's sights. Ever since its 'pacifist' constitution was imposed by the United States after the second world war, Japan has faithfully adhered to the principles of war-renouncing Article 9: it ... https://www.scmp.com/article/540925/facing-terrorist-threat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/540925/facing-terrorist-threat?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Mar 2006 16:00:00 +0000 As the Sunni insurgency in Iraq has increased in its scope and brutality over the past few years, one of its key strategic objectives has become all too apparent - the desire to spark a civil war between the country's Sunni and Shi'ite communities. The February 22 attack on the Shi'ite Askari mosque in Samarra is, however, a new and deeply concerning development, even by the brutal standards of the continuing insurgency. Even Islamic holy sites have now become 'legitimate' targets. The Sunni... https://www.scmp.com/article/539521/brink-anarchy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/539521/brink-anarchy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Mar 2006 16:00:00 +0000 Since Hamas' shock victory in the Palestinian election on January 25, one question has dominated - will Hamas now moderate. Having become by far the largest party in Palestinian politics, international attention has focused on whether the radical movement that has become synonymous with the suicide bomb will adapt a more pragmatic stance. Last Friday, we had our answer. Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas' political bureau and de facto head of the movement, told Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat... https://www.scmp.com/article/535694/can-hamas-leopard-change-its-spots?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/535694/can-hamas-leopard-change-its-spots?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Feb 2006 16:00:00 +0000