Ioannis Mantzikos
(PhD candidate at the Free State University of South Africa & RIEAS Research Associate)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 5 May 2015

Nigerians celebrated the electrifying victory returned one of its harshest former dictators to power, sobering challenges confront Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari warned the country's brutal Boko Haram insurgents that he would be coming after them. The victory of Muhammadu Buhari, in the March presidential poll, was viewed as a landmark - the first time a sitting president had been voted out of office. Equally important was incumbent Goodluck Jonathan's acceptance of defeat - not a given on a continent in which rulers have often gone to great lengths to retain power. He won 52.4 percent of ballots cast in a March 28-29 vote to unseat President Goodluck Jonathan and his People's Democratic Party, the first lawful transition of power since British colonial rule ended in 1960. Buhari's inauguration is scheduled for May 29 2015...Read more

Yoram Schweitzer

(An expert on international terrorism and head of the INSS Program on Terrorism and Low Intensity Conflict, has been a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), which incorporated the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies (JCSS), since February 2003, following a distinguished career in the Israeli intelligence community as well as in the academic world).

Oded Eran

(A senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, served as director of INSS from July 2008 to November 2011, following a long career in Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government positions).

Copyright: The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS-no 654), Israel

The shock that gripped France following the terrorist attacks in Paris in early January 2015 will probably wane as time passes. Similarly, the urgency assigned to effective handling of the danger originating on the battlefields of Syria and Iraq that threatens Western democracies will likely decline. The need to take up the challenge will be postponed to a time when the leaders of Western countries have no choice but to deal with it directly, on a broad scale, and perhaps violently. Presumably only a chain of exceptional events, i.e., showcase terrorist attacks that cause a large number of casualties, will unequivocally highlight the risk incurred in not stepping up the military struggle against the challenge to the West posed by the Islamic State organization... Read more

Hussein Solomon
(Professor Hussein Solomon lectures in the Department of Political Studies and Governance at the University of the Free State, Republic of South Africa and is a Member of the Advisory Board of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).

Copyright: Africa Center for Strategic Studies (Updated: 04/23/2015)

Recent weeks have revealed a long-building crisis of African migration. In South Africa, xenophobic attacks against mainly African immigrants erupted across several cities prompting the South African government to deploy the military as a deterrent. Following the terrorist attack in the northeastern town of Garissa, the Kenyan government has told the United Nations to close down the Dadaab refugee camp, which houses close to 450,000 Somali refugees. In the Mediterranean, warmer weather has brought a steady stream of vessels transporting migrants desperately attempting to enter Europe. The capsizing of a ship off the coast of Libya, killing an estimated 850 would-be refugees, represents the single worst migrant disaster in the Mediterranean. Many of those trying to make the crossing are fleeing conflict and political repression in places like South Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia... Read more .

By Ioannis Mantzikos
(PhD candidate at the Free State University of South Africa & RIEAS Research Associate)

Copyright: http://warontherocks.com/2014/11/joining-and-betraying-al-qaeda-a-how-to-guide/ Publication Date on RIEAS (www.rieas.gr) on 5 March 2015

Agent Storm feels like a James Bond story or one of John Le Carre's marvelous spy-thrillers. Yet, the story written by CNN's Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister is a true account. The journey of Morten Storm provides valuable insights into high-stakes intelligence operations, as well as the social issues surrounding radicalization and extremism. It is a first-rate account of how a troubled young Danish Christian, with a history of petty criminality, incarceration and drug use converted to Islam and entered into its most extremist jihadi circles in Denmark and Britain, ultimately becoming a trusted member of al-Qaeda (AQ). Storm represents the highest level of Western intelligence penetration of AQ's most dangerous affiliate – al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP...Read more