Wednesday, 2 March 2016

HISTORY OF TERRORISM

        There was something that happened in 1881-85 in Ireland. If you don't know then chill because I am going to share it with you.


                                                            1881-85 in Ireland

One of the earliest groups to utilize modern terrorist techniques was arguably the Fenian Brotherhood and its offshoot the Irish Republican Brotherhood. They were both founded in 1858 as revolutionary and militant nationalist groups, both in Ireland. These revolutionary fraternal organisations were founded with the aim of establishing an independent republic in Ireland, and began carrying out frequent acts of violence in metropolitan Britain to achieve their aims through intimidation.n 1867, members of the movement's leadership were arrested and convicted for organizing an armed uprising. While being transferred to prison, the police van in which they were being transported was intercepted and a police sergeant was shot in the rescue. A bolder rescue attempt of another Irish radical incarcerated in Clerkenwell Prison, was made in the same year: an explosion to demolish the prison wall killed 12 people and caused many injuries. The bombing enraged the British public, causing a panic over the Fenian threat.
Although the Irish Republican Brotherhood condemned the Clerkenwell Outrage as a "dreadful and deplorable event", the organisation returned to bombings in Britain in 1881 to 1885, with the Fenian dynamite campaign, beginning one of the first modern terror campaigns.] Instead of earlier forms of terrorism based on political assassination, this campaign used modern, timed explosives with the express aim of sowing fear in the very heart of metropolitan Britain, in order to achieve political gains. The campaign also took advantage of the greater global integration of the times, and the bombing was largely funded and organised by the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States.


Naviya  Kamdar


HISTORY OF TERRORISM

The history of terrorism is a history of well-known and historically significant individuals, entities, and incidents associated, whether rightly or wrongly, with terrorism. Scholars agree that terrorism is a disputed term, and very few of those labeled terrorists describe themselves as such. It is common for opponents in a violent conflict to describe the other side as terrorists or as practicing terrorism.[1]Depending on how broadly the term is defined, the roots and practice of terrorism can be traced at least to the 1st-century AD Sicarii Zealots, though some dispute whether the group, which assassinated collaborators with Roman rule in the province of Judea, was in fact terrorist. The first use in English of the term 'terrorism' occurred during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, when the Jacobins, who ruled the revolutionary state, employed violence, including mass executions by guillotine, to compel obedience to the state and intimidate regime enemies.[2] The association of the term only with state violence and intimidation lasted until the mid-19th century, when it began to be associated with non-governmental groups. Anarchism, often in league with rising nationalism and anti-monarchism, was the most prominent ideology linked with terrorism. Near the end of the 19th century, anarchist groups or individuals committed assassinations of a Russian Tsar and a U.S. President.


1795. "Government intimidation during the Reign of Terror in France." The general sense of "systematic use of terror as a policy" was first recorded in English in 1798.[8
]1916. Gustave LeBon: "Terrorisation has always been employed by revolutionaries no less than by kings, as a means of impressing their enemies, and as an example to those who were doubtful about submitting to them...."[9]
1937. League of Nations convention language: "All criminal acts directed against a State and intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or a group of persons or the general public."[10]
1987. A definition proposed by Iran at an international Islamic conference on terrorism: "Terrorism is an act carried out to achieve an inhuman and corrupt (mufsid) objective, and involving [a] threat to security of any kind, and violation of rights acknowledged by religion and mankind."[11]
1988. A proposed academic consensus definition: "Terrorism is an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action, employed by (semi-) clandestine individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons, whereby - in contrast to assassination - the direct targets of violence are not the main targets. The immediate human victims of violence are generally chosen randomly (targets of opportunity) or selectively (representative or symbolic targets) from a target population, and serve as message generators."[12]
1989. United States: premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents.[13]
1992. A definition proposed by Alex P. Schmid to the United Nations Crime Branch: "Act of Terrorism = Peacetime Equivalent of War Crime."[10]
2002. European Union: ". . . given their nature or context, [acts which] may seriously damagea country or an international organisation where committed with the aim of seriously intimidating a population."[14]
2003. India: Referencing Schmid's 1992 proposal, the Supreme Court of India described terrorist acts as the "peacetime equivalents of war crimes."[15]
2005. United Nations General Assembly's statement with relation to terrorism: "Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them."[16]
2008. Carsten Bockstette, a German military officer serving at the George C. Marshall Center for European Security Studies, proposed the following definition: "political violence in an asymmetrical conflict that is designed to induce terror and psychic fear (sometimes indiscriminate) through the violent victimization and destruction of noncombatant targets(sometimes iconic symbols)."[17]
2014. Contained in a Saudi Arabia terrorism law taking effect 1 February 2014, the following definition has been criticized by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for being overly broad: "Any act carried out by an offender in furtherance of an individual or collective project, directly or indirectly, intended to disturb the public order of the state, or to shake the security of society, or the stability of the state, or to expose its national unity to danger, or to suspend the basic law of governance or some of its articles, or to insult the reputation of the state or its position, or to inflict damage upon one of its public utilities or its natural resources, or to attempt to force a governmental authority to carry out or prevent it from carrying out an action, or to threaten to carry out acts that lead to the named purposes or incite [these acts].


By SANA MEHTA 

women in war

In many ways the coming of different types of war challenge the ideology of Victirian domesticity that had defined the lives of men and women in the antebellum era.In the north and south,the war forced women into public life in ways they could scarcely have imagined a generation before.

women are usually used as human shields, sleeper cells , suicide bombers


Women have to sacrifice a lot for the nation too....


In the world war 2 ,as  you all know the women only prepared weapons and during bad conditions women even had to come in the battle field .

In 1901-1908 the establishment of army and navy nurse corps opened the door for women in the military but ever so slightly .it wasn't until the united states got involved in world war 1 that some parts of the government got serious about using women power.


Yet during that war over thirty thousand women had served in the army and navy nurse corps, the navy as yeoman he marines and the coastguard, they served their country before they voted .

The door was open further,but it would be 23 years before women could be even remotely considered as an integral unites states military establishment

yet interestingly enough it was a service of women in the military and defence work that gave a huge push to the passing of the 19th amendment.

just as the nature of these wars has changed over times,so to has their effect on women.
Women have actively participated in war from nursing and munitions manufacturing during the first and second world wars to the increasing involvement of women in the military.






Monday, 29 February 2016


SLEEPER CELL

Sleeper cells are groups of terrorist who are trained and ready to carry out attack at a designated time and place.They are loosely organised and blend into communities easily through legitimate employment.

These agents may spend years performing their regular duties while living deep undercover,then suddenly receive orders from their overseas handlers to either commit an act of terrorism or to provide aid to those who will.For eg. one sleeper agent may work for an airline ticket while another may work for a car rental company. When the commanders of the terrorist organisation want to activate a cell, they receive only his specific order. For eg. The airline ticket agent may be told to provide tickets to them. No individual is aware of the entire plan.

The event 9/11 pointed out the dangers of such cells, since a number US citizens did provide material assistance to the actual terrorists.

 

Wednesday, 24 February 2016

THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR

THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR
The SYRIAN CIVIL WAR is an ongoing multi-sided armed conflict with international interventions taking place in Syria. The unrest began in the early spring of 2011 the Arab Spring protests, with nationwide protests against President Bashar al-Assad's government, whose forces responded with violent crackdowns. The conflict gradually morphed from mass protests to an armed rebellion after months of military sieges. A United Nations report released in December, 2012, stated that the conflict had "become overtly sectarian in nature", between Alawite–dominated government forces, militias and other Shia groups fighting primarily against Sunni-dominated rebel groups; however both opposition and government forces denied that.


IMPACT OF WAR ON SOCIETY
 The Syrian Civil War has devastated Syria and its people. The death toll is not easily confirmed, but the deadliest single day of the Syrian Civil War was estimated to have seen 397 Syrians killed. Overall, the death toll sits somewhere around 50,000 casualties. Considering Syrians small population, the death toll is a huge blow to the nation. The remaining Syrians have lost all faith in their country, and many of them have fled to neighboring countries to find safety.


SOME UNTOLD FACTS ABOUT THE SYRIAN REFUGEE CRISIS
* Another of Syria's neighbours, Egypt, has taken in more than 100,000 refugees

* The United Nations estimates around 7.6 million refugees are displaced within Syria

* Three years ago a refugee camp was set up in the middle of the Jordanian desert - it is now Jordan's fourth biggest city with a population of more than 80,000 Syrians living in tents

* More than half of all Syrian refugees are children

* In terms of the EU, most refugees seek asylum in Germany

* Just over one million Syrian refugees are in Lebanon
Sheffield to ‘immediately’ open doors to Syrian refugees

* Jordan has taken in more than 600,000 Syrian refugees

* 250,000 displaced Syrians are now in Iraq

* More than 100,000 Syrian civilians have been killed in the fighting in the last four years

* Since 2011 half the population - 11 million people - have been displaced

* Two million refugees are currently in Turkey

* The Syria crisis began when a civil war broke out in 2011                        

* At the time the war broke out the population of Syria was 23 million


(picture of the Syrian refugees and pollution due to the bombings and conflict.)

 -Sana Mehta

Landmark events that occurred in 2012 during the Syrian war

January 2012
A car bomb in Damascus kills 26 and a few days later a mortar attack kills French journalist Gilles Jacquier in Homs.UNICEF says as many as 384 children have died in the conflict.

February 2012
Russia and China went to a UN resolution that supported the Arab League's call for Assad to quit after hundreds in Homs died.Russia said the resolution was a biased attempt at the regime.The Arab League still offers opposition forces political and financial support.

March 2012
Rebels flee after 3 weeks of bombardment that killed hundreds.Two more bombings in Damascus killed 27.Syria agrees to UN Security Council demands that it implement Kofi Annan's peace plan.China and Russia endorse the non binding plan after modification.

April 2012
More than 100 killed on April 9.The UN sponsored ceasefire that comes into effect on April 12 and the monitors begin 4  days later

May 2012
The Security Council  condemns government use of heavy weaponry and the militia killing civilians in Houla.At least 108 people die including many children in attacks in the region of Houla on May 25.

June 2012
Assad tells a reshuffled government they face real war.Syria shoots down a Turkish jet threatening Turkey to stay away.UN peacekeeping chief Herve  Ladsous says Syria is embroiled in a full scale civil war

July 2012
Suicide bomb kills Syrian defense minster Dawoud Rajha on July 17.Army and militias kill as many as 220 on July 12 in Tremseh.Damascus sees some of its heaviest fighting as armored vehicles clash with rebels.

August 2012
Syria's prime minister Riyad Hijab reportedly fled to Jordan with his  family.Conflicting reports coming out of Syria said he was fired upon prior to fleeing the country.

Tuesday, 23 February 2016

important events of the syrian war:2013

2013 January- Syria accused Israeli jets of attacking a military research center near Damascus ,but denies reports that lorries carrying  weapons bound for Lebanon were hit. unverified reports say Israel had targeted  an Iranian commander charged with moving weapons of mass destruction to Lebanon . International donors pledge more than dollars 1.5bn to help civilians affected by the conflict in Syria [humanitarian aid]


2013 March- Syrian warplanes bomb the northern city Raqqa after the rebels seize control. Britain pledge non-military aid to rebels .

Rise of Islamists

2013 June- government and allied Lebanese Hezbollah forces recapture strategically -important town of Qusair between homs and Lebanese border .rebel commanders complain that arms supplies taper off over international concerns about Islamists I the opposition camp.


2013 July- Saudi - backed  Ahmed  Jarba  becomes  Ahmed Jarba becomes leader of oppositions national  coalition ,defeating qatarbacked  rival .

2013 September-UN weapons inspectors conclude that chemical weapons were used in an attack on the Ghouta area of Damascus

2013 October -President Assad allows international inspectors to begin destroying Syria's chemical weapons o the basis of a US-RUSSIAN agreement .

2013 December - US and BRITAIN suspend "non lethal " support for rebels in northern Syria after reports islamist rebels seize some bases of western -backed FSA

LANDMARKS THAT OCCURED IN SYRIA CIVIL WAR 2011

 The civil war began.....

March 6,2011 some of the children who painted anti-regime graffiti were jailed,some were killed in detention and this led to public peace protests which spread around the country -fuelled by  the failure of the government to punish the perpetrators.The country before war was already unstable as the government was failure to his long -promised economic and poliical reforms. By July 2011 the free syrian army was formed (FSA)had formned. The FSA never existed before.People like local areas formed thier own militias with the aim of toppling the government without any co-ordination or centralizes command or control. The FSA are the ones who trained the rebels .The rebels are anti government people who want to overthrow the regime.

US Imposes sanctions

The  US imposes sanctions against syrian President Bahar- al-Assad and six other senior syrian offical.The us imposes new economic sanctions on syria ,freezing syrian government assets in the us barring American from making new investments in country. President Barack Obama calls on Assad to resign and orders Syrian government assests frozen.

RUSSIA AND US INVOLVEMENT IN SYRIA CIVIL WAR

Twin suicide bombings

Twin suicide bombs outside security buildings in Damascus killed 44 people.The blast came a day after an advance team of Arab League observers arrived in the country to monitor Syria`s promise to end its crackdown on protesters.


TWIN SUICIDE BOMBINGS

Stop the killing of civilians

 Russia and China veto a European-backed UN Security Council resolution that threatens sanctions against Syria if it doesn’t immediately halt its military crackdown against civilians. The Arab League votes to suspend Syria’s membership.The Arab League overwhelmingly approves sanctions against Syria to pressure Damascus to end the crackdown, an unprecedented move against an Arab state.