20 November 2014 Last updated at 04:44
In an interview, Ali Soufan, the former FBI agent who was a key figure in the arrest of the mastermind behind al-Qaida's 9/11 attacks, discusses Islamic State's massively successful social media strategy and serious errors made in the war against terror.
Soufan: They are very familiar with social media -- they know how it works. They are very smart in reaching out to the iPhone generation. They deploy different tools in different markets -- using mostly Twitter in the Gulf region, for example, and Facebook in Syria. It's very decentralized and that is interesting. It is the first organization of this kind that understands the impact of social media.
A senior Israeli drone commander talks about split-second decisions, agonising dilemmas - and wrong calls.
As China attempts to assert maritime claims against neighboring Vietnam, Vietnam in turn has been expanding its navy and courting new allies, such as India. In an email interview,Abhijit Singh, a research fellow at India’s Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, discusses the capabilities of the Vietnamese navy, known as the Vietnam People's Navy.
WPR: What is Vietnam’s naval capacity, and how operationally prepared is its navy?
Abhijit Singh: Vietnam’s navy has modernized from a small coastal patrol force with limited capacity in the 1980s into a seagoing, fairly competent, combat-worthy navy. Equipped with old Soviet-era hardware and an assortment of small seagoing vessels until a decade ago, it has now upgraded itself into a modern, though still compact, fighting force. The force today consists of frigates, corvettes, patrol craft, missile boats, maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) and even submarines. Unable to effectively defend its maritime stakes for much of the 1990s and 2000s, the recent improvements in the Vietnamese navy’s operational capability have expanded its ability protect its waters.
North Korea responds to UN with nuclear test threat
North Korea has threatened to conduct a nuclear test in response to a United Nations move towards a probe into the country's human rights violations.
Its foreign ministry on Thursday accused the United States of orchestrating a recent UN resolution calling for the investigation.
North Korea previously conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
Its threat comes as new satellite images emerge indicating fresh activity at a North Korean nuclear facility.
A UN human rights committee on Tuesday passed a resolution calling on the Security Council to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
Pyongyang said the resolution was based on "fabricated testimonies" from North Korean defectors and "slander against Pyongyang".Baby monitors, CCTV cameras and webcams from UK homes and businesses hacked and uploaded onto Russian website
FARC to release kidnapped general
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia agreed to release an army general they kidnapped earlier this week. General Ruben Alzate is the highest-ranking military official ever to have been taken by the group.
Colombia's FARC rebel group agreed Wednesday to release a kidnapped general and several others, potentially paving the way for the resumption of peace talks with the government aimed at ending the country's five-decade civil war.
General Ruben Alzate, 55 was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) this past Sunday. He is the highest-ranking military officer to be kidnapped by the group in a half-century of conflict. Corporal Jorge Rodriguez and army adviser Gloria Urrego, who were traveling with Alzate, were also taken prisoner.
Hashtags and Holy War: Islamic State Tweets Its Way to Success
In an interview, Ali Soufan, the former FBI agent who was a key figure in the arrest of the mastermind behind al-Qaida's 9/11 attacks, discusses Islamic State's massively successful social media strategy and serious errors made in the war against terror.
SPIEGEL: You recently conducted extensive research into Islamic State's media strategy, analyzing numerous documents including videos and Facebook and Twitter postings. What differentiates IS from other terrorist groups?
SPIEGEL: Do you know how many people are working in the IS propaganda department?
Soufan: We do know that a whole army of bloggers, writers and people who do nothing else other than to watch social media are working for IS. According to our research, most are based in the Gulf region or North Africa. The program was started by Abu Amr Al-Shami, a Syrian born in Saudi Arabia. And we know that at one point more than 12,000 Twitter accounts were connected to IS. This is one of the unique tactics used by this group: the decentralization of its propaganda work. The Islamic State has maximized control of its message by giving up control of its delivery. This is new.
How a drone operator feels killing 'objects' on the ground
November 20, 2014 - 1:38PMDavid Blair
A senior Israeli drone commander talks about split-second decisions, agonising dilemmas - and wrong calls.
Few human beings are forced to take life-or-death decisions as routinely - or as rapidly - as those who hold the shattering power of Israeli military drones in their hands.
The turmoil this week in Jerusalem, where four Jewish worshippers were bludgeoned to death inside a synagogue, represents the rawest agony of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Yet far away from the bloodshed, highly skilled operators sit in the safety of air conditioned control rooms, waging an automated war from the skies.
Major Yair is one of Israel's most experienced drone commanders; he served in the Lebanon campaign of 2006 and throughout the last three wars in Gaza. Day after day, this 31-year-old had to wrestle with the agonising dilemmas that moral philosophers have argued over for centuries.
Vietnam’s Modernizing Navy Confronts China’s Sea Power
By The Editors, , Global InsiderAs China attempts to assert maritime claims against neighboring Vietnam, Vietnam in turn has been expanding its navy and courting new allies, such as India. In an email interview,Abhijit Singh, a research fellow at India’s Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, discusses the capabilities of the Vietnamese navy, known as the Vietnam People's Navy.
WPR: What is Vietnam’s naval capacity, and how operationally prepared is its navy?
Abhijit Singh: Vietnam’s navy has modernized from a small coastal patrol force with limited capacity in the 1980s into a seagoing, fairly competent, combat-worthy navy. Equipped with old Soviet-era hardware and an assortment of small seagoing vessels until a decade ago, it has now upgraded itself into a modern, though still compact, fighting force. The force today consists of frigates, corvettes, patrol craft, missile boats, maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) and even submarines. Unable to effectively defend its maritime stakes for much of the 1990s and 2000s, the recent improvements in the Vietnamese navy’s operational capability have expanded its ability protect its waters.
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