John Sawers, former Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), shares his insights on how security threats have evolved with the rise of digital technologies and social media. In this interview, he offers a compelling exploration of the shift from traditional methods to contemporary security challenges. Sawers examines how intelligence approaches have adapted to address new threats, including the influence of social media on democratic processes and the evolving global geopolitical landscape. The discussion provides An insightful analysis of the current dynamics in intelligence work and highlights the critical issues facing intelligence services in an increasingly interconnected and digital world.
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September 24, 2021In July 2021, the United Nations issued a condemnation against the “dramatic rise” in attacks against “descent-based slaves” in Mali, calling the violence “unacceptable”[i]. The statement was in response to a tragic episode in the eastern region of Kayes, where landowners using machetes and rifles assaulted a group of indentured laborers to prevent them working on the landowners’ fields. Tomoya Okobata, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, said these “assaul ... -
September 23, 2021The Policy Center for the New South (PCNS) is organizing a public debate titled "Thriving on uncertainty: COVID-19 related opportunities for terrorist groups” on Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 at 3pm GMT+1. This webinar is the result of a Joint Policy Study, coordinated by our Senior Fe... -
September 20, 2021The COVID-19 pandemic has had a cataclysmic impact on all aspects of the functioning of our world. The relevance of the possibility of the spread of a global virus with the spread of terrorism is not immediately obvious as it is difficult for a direct causal link to be scientifically established. However, taking into consideration how state responses and pre-existing socioeconomic grievances can be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic can lead to innovative findings on how terrorist gr ... -
September 13, 2021The fifth African Peace and Security Annual Conference (APSACO) was held from June 21-23, 2021, under the theme ‘Women, Peace, and Security in Africa’. The three- day event, hosted and organized by the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS), was composed of four panels and three workshops: • Panel 1: Bolstering Women’s Role in Conflict Prevention and Resolution • Panel 2: Integrating & Reinforcing The Gender Dimension in Security and Defense • Panel 3: Understanding to Act Bett ... -
August 24, 2021The Taliban movement took control of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, without confrontation or resistance, as soon as the president, Ashraf Ghani, fled the country. Afghan forces were not able to face the Taliban, despite of the fact that Taliban was technically outnumbered and outgunned by Afghan government forces. The New American administration first priority is to make US military mission in Afghanistan conclude by August 31st. Biden believes that the mission US army in Afghanistan ... -
August 11, 2021The ongoing war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia has resulted in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in a decade. The escalating conflict has led to the death and displacement of thousands of civilians, raised ethnic tensions in Ethiopia, and caused a food crisis that could lead to widespread famine. Much can be said about this conflict—how it revolves around models of governance and conflicting visions of self-determination, and how its impact will be felt across the region. Here ... -
July 26, 2021La région nord-est du Mozambique, Cabo Delgado, est, depuis 2017, le théâtre d’une insurrection meurtrière, menée par un groupe, connu sous le nom de Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa et que la population locale dénomme « Al Shabab ». Considérée comme la plus pauvre du pays, cette région abrite une population à majorité musulmane et qui reste marginalisée dans les politiques publiques de développement du Gouvernement, malgré l’exploitation intensive des importantes ressources naturelles de son s ... -
July 09, 2021Dans ce podcast Abdelhak Bassou décrypte l’impact de la pandémie COVID-19 sur les activités terroristes en Afrique de l’ouest. En abordant les données géopolitiques antérieures à la pande ... -
July 02, 2021With the intensification of globalization dynamics, risks to the stability of the international system have grown to the extent that formerly localized threats are no longer locally conta ...
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June 25, 2021The German town of Dinslaken, roughly 70,000 residents, has not really made a mark on history, but the former coal mining community still managed to get onto the front pages of national newspapers. Dinslaken became a hotspot for German jihadis, ready to join the radical Islamic State. Between 2011 and 2013 an Islamic group, 25 members, rented space just next to the office of the local commissioner of integration. About half of the group followed the call to arms, to fight the infide ...
