The spectre of a terror attack in Singapore has loomed large in recent months. Political leaders, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, have warned repeatedly that it is not a question of if, but when, such an attack will strike our shores. At the same time, the...
The arrest of eight Bangladeshis in Singapore last month for plotting terror attacks in their home country highlighted gaps in Singapore’s overall strategy for dealing with the rising threat of terrorism in the region. Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said that the arrests, the latest in...
The fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) concluded in Washington, DC earlier this month. The summit series was the brainchild of United States President Barack Obama, who first mooted the idea in 2009. Results have been mixed and it is unclear if the nuclear security...
The year 2016 has not gotten off to an auspicious start for Indonesia, with the capital Jakarta coming under a terrorist attack on Jan 14. The country and its new President both weathered multiple headwinds in 2015, and they could not have asked for a...
The war on terror may have seemed to be something that was taking place farther away in the Middle East, but the reality has now hit much closer to home and a higher frequency of incidents can be expected, said Simon Tay, chairman of the...
Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium Didier Reynders said that both countries share the assessment that it will take more than military action to counter the threat posed by the Islamic State (IS). // 0) adsCategory = cats[0]; } ...
Governments can stop their citizens joining extremist groups in the Middle East by identifying what drives them to take up arms for terrorists groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders said yesterday. The reasons they leave for...
News of ISIS successfully targeting Southeast Asian professionals and women have worrying implications for the region. Earlier this month, Malaysia announced the arrest of 14 individuals suspected of links to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), including a senior assistant director at Malaysia’s...
One significant outcome of the European financial crisis was the impact on Europe-Asia relations. For the first time in history, Europe started taking Asia seriously. But now, the crisis in Ukraine has overtaken the foreign policy agenda, to the detriment of Europe’s relations with Asia,...
At the end of September, the Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines announced they were holding a German man and woman hostage. The group also threatened to kill one of their captives by October 17 unless their demands were met - including Germany’s withdrawal from...