CybersecurityCyber Threat Looms Large over German Election By Janosch Delcker Published 8 March 2021 Whether hacking attacks or disinformation campaigns, online meddling could sway public opinion and influence the outcome of the September vote, experts warn. Recent incidents suggest that the threat is real. When Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) met online to elect a

BOOKSHELF: Syria’s chemical weaponsThe “Red Line” That Wasn’t By Chris Quillen Published 7 March 2021 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons (CW) against his own people is the greatest challenge the Chemical Weapons Convention has ever faced. This breach of the taboo against CW use sparked numerous national and international investigations to determine

PandemicWHO Cancels Interim Report on China COVID Investigation Published 5 March 2021 The World Health Organization (WHO) investigators who recently visited China to determine the origins of the emergence of the COVID-19 virus will not release a promised interim report of their findings. the WHO team decided not to release its interim account “amid mounting

ParamilitariesNorthern Ireland Loyalists Pull Support for Good Friday Peace Deal Published 5 March 2021 Loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland have reportedly told the British prime minister that they are withdrawing support for the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Loyalists are supporters of Northern Ireland being a part of the U.K., and the decision was taken

BOOKSHELF: China watchBook Review: Hidden Hand – Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World By Andrew Podger Published 5 March 2021 Hidden Handis right to remind people that: China and the CCP are not one and the same; China has a party-state system of government that is authoritarian and not democratic; China

ARGUMENT: China watchChina’s Military Tech Ambitions – What’s the U.S.- EU Gameplan? Published 5 March 2021 A key test of the Biden era of transatlantic relations will be the issue of how the United States and the European Union respond to China’s aggressive efforts to seize market share and industrial knowledge in areas of technology

Disaster responseTool to Explore National Response Framework Published 5 March 2021 When a disaster strikes, FEMA outlines an organized process for response. To navigate the framework more easily, researchers designed a tool which visually captures and explores FEMA’s 470-plus requirements, recommendations, and other elements. When a disaster strikes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Response Framework outlines an

Domestic terrorismU.S. Capitol Police Tighten Security as Thursday Threat Looms Published 4 March 2021 The U.S. Capitol Police Department says it is taking seriously intelligence about a possible plot by a militia group to breach the Capitol on Thursday. A far-right conspiracy theory has been circulating on social media platforms, contending that Donald Trump, who

The Russia connectionU.S. Concludes Russian Agents Poisoned Navalny, Will Join EU Sanctions Published 2 March 2021 Senior U.S. administration officials say Washington has concluded that Russian agents used a nerve agent to poison opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. The officials said the United States will mirror EU sanctions on seven senior Russian government officials. Senior U.S. administration

InsurrectionFBI: No Evidence of Leftist Extremists Involved in 6 January Attack on Capitol Published 2 March 2021 DBI director Christopher Wray told lawmakers today (Tuesday) that there wasn’t any evidence to suggest that left-wing extremists or “fake Trump supporters” were involved in the 6 January attack on the Capitol. The claims about fake Trump supporters,