As reports emerge of a growing sense of unease in Moldova and the Baltic States, the HIC thinks it is critical that we ask what recent events in Crimea signal for the eastern frontiers of Europe as a whole. Here, we present to you our interview with Colm Lauder, currently the Secretary General of Europe's largest political youth organisation, the Youth of the European People's Party (YEPP).
Read More »The 50th Munich Security Conference and the Shift in German Foreign Policy
Over the past five decades the Munich Security Conference (MSC) has become the most important independent forum for the exchange of views by international security policy decision-makers. Each year it brings together about 350 senior figures from more than 70 countries around the world to engage in an intensive debate on current and future security challenges.
Read More »Terror-Byte: why we need a Hard Drive to shutdown cyber-Terrorism
One is struck with an unsettling scenario when watching Skyfall: an unseen invader reaches into your infrastructure from afar and manages to cause untold chaos and carnage whilst sat behind his desk sipping Red Bull. Cyber-terrorism is yet to approach its zenith, but that time is not very far away.
Read More »When old and new Empires collide: The historical roots of the Sino-Japanese Island Dispute
In 1405 A.D. the legendary Admiral Zheng He set the sails of his mighty armada for the first time. Over the following decades he went on seven journeys for the Emperors of the Ming dynasty. With up to 300 vessels and 30,000 men he came as far as Burma and India. China was the dominant naval power in the world – until Emperor Zhengtong had the entire fleet burnt down.
Read More »Iran: The Point of No Return
In the current round of nuclear talks with Iran, the international community must not be guided by dreams but by reality. Too often, the world has been deceived by the regime in Tehran. The sanctions have to be kept in place.
Read More »Al Shabaab: the Rise and Fall from Black Hawk Down to Westgate and Beyond
The attack on Nairobi demonstrated that al Shabaab has peaked and is attempting to reverse its seemingly unstoppable decline.
Read More »The Yom Kippur War: Forty Years Later
Yom Kippur, October 6th 1973, at five minutes past two precisely, 4,000 artillery pieces, 250 aircraft and dozens of FROG missiles struck Israeli positions along the Suez Canal and the Sinai, at the same time along the Golan Heights 1,400 tanks advanced towards Israel.
Read More »Heads of the Hydra – al Qaeda’s New Direction
Whilst al-Qaeda has never been a particularly centralised organisation, in recent years it appears to have shifted from a model of a centralised franchise, which supports other groups to carry out attacks in their name, to a fractured structure of regional groups, each with its own internal politics and personal missions.
Read More »Syria and the Inconsistency of the European Foreign and Security Policy
The EU somehow managed to cover up its failure in Libya and Mali, but the disaster of its Syria policy cannot be squashed as easily. The time has come for the member states to ask themselves how far they want to go in terms of a common foreign and security policy.
Read More »Jihadist Perceptions of the ‘Arab Spring’
Whilst it is widely agreed that the Arab Spring will have an enormous impact on al-Qaeda and the worldwide jihadist movement, there is no consensus on what this impact will look like. On one hand, there are optimists like Fawaz Gerges and Peter Bergen who think the Arab-Spring is a death blow to the jihadist movement.
Read More »