Albania and the Iranian Terror Threat

The national security of countries and the security of the international system are the cornerstones for the stability and prosperity of the international system. Terrorism in general and state-supported terrorism in particular pose a major threat to the security and stability of the international system. In the course of almost 40 years Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and has a long and bloody history of terror attacks. Since 2017 the Iranian regime’s terrorist activities appear to be on the rise on European soil. The Iranian regime appears committed to a strategy of targeting Iranian decedents and Western and Israeli interests, even in Europe. Albania, a close US ally has found itself on the frontline of the clash between the West and Iran and Albania has been at the center of terrorist activities organized by Iran, due to hosting the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK).

D.C. District Court Enters Over $300 Million Default Judgment Award Against Syria for the Death of Marie Colvin

On February 1, 2019, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted a motion for default judgment and entered a $302,511,836.00 award against the Syrian Arab Republic (“Syria”). The court found the Syrian government liable for the death of Marie Colvin, who died in an artillery shelling on February 22, 2012, at a media center in the city of Homs. Colvin was a heralded war correspondent who had previously “cover[ed] conflict zones in Iraq, Chechnya, the Balkans, East Timor, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, and Libya.” Colvin's heirs brought suit, claiming that because Syria had been designated a “state sponsor of terrorism,” it could be held liable for an extrajudicial killing of a U.S. national under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). Judge Amy Berman Jackson concluded that the plaintiffs met the evidentiary burden required to support their claim after finding personal and subject matter jurisdiction.

Sudan faces new questions as Bashir’s rule ends

Significance Though this is a major victory for protesters demanding Bashir’s resignation, the precise form of any proposed transition will be closely watched. Impacts The people will want Bashir to face justice, but many within the former ruling elite may be wary of the potential for blowback. Transition will create deep uncertainties over Sudan’s foreign policy direction; regional powers may thus look to influence its direction. A serious change in government could accelerate Sudan’s delisting as a state sponsor of terrorism and set it on a path towards debt relief.

Sanctions end will buoy Sudan's domestic agenda

Significance Washington’s decision ends Khartoum’s uncertainty on the issue and marks a considerable shift in US policy towards Sudan. Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour cautiously welcomed the move, describing it as a positive step in the right direction. However, he emphasised that Sudan still needs to work to be removed from the US list of ‘state sponsors of terrorism’ and obtain much-needed debt relief (around 50 billion dollars). Impacts Sudan’s state sponsor of terrorism designation will reinforce negative perceptions among international investors, donors and debtholders. Sudan will cooperate with international peace initiatives, but without delivering major strategic concessions. President Omar al-Bashir will seek to portray himself as a reformer ahead of 2020 elections.

“We Have to Find a Better Way to Send a Message”: The CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, from the Eagle Program to the Predator Drone, 1986–2001

This chapter explores how the CIA's Counterterrorist Center (CTC) was established to function as a war room against terrorists, under the leadership of its first director, Duane Clarridge. Though the consequences of the Iran-Contra affair initially tempered the CTC's aggression, the foundations of the agency's post-9/11 role in the War on Terror were laid during this time, and its aggressive pursuit of al-Qaeda today owes much to the approach Clarridge sought to instill in his new department. The origins of the agency's involvement with drones as tools of counterterrorism are also traced back to this period—as early as 1986. Through its classified Eagle program, the CIA first explored the concept of using unmanned aircraft for both intelligence gathering and to conduct lethal precision strikes against targets such as the Libyan dictator and state sponsor of terror, Mu'ammar Gaddafi.

Murder may damage North Korea's foreign relations

Subject The apparent assassination of supreme leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother. Significance Supreme leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, died on February 13 in an ambulance en route to hospital from an airport in Kuala Lumpur. He is believed to have been poisoned using a spray or needle as he waited for a flight to Macau, where he lived. In connection with the case, Malaysian police have detained three people: a woman holding a Vietnamese passport, a woman holding an Indonesian passport and a Malaysian man. Against the wishes of the North Korean embassy, police conducted an autopsy yesterday; the results have not been released. Impacts US lawmakers in favour of classing Pyongyang as a state sponsor of terrorism may cite the case as evidence. Illegal action by Pyongyang reflects badly on China as Pyongyang's ally and patron, so this incident could exacerbate bilateral tensions. However, the damage is unlikely to be severe compared to that done by Pyongyang's increasingly frequent nuclear and missile tests. The impact on ties with Malaysia, up to now a relatively friendly government, could be more dramatic.