News Digest (18 stories, 25.11.15)
25 November 2015
BOSNIA:
US-Published Documents Show West’s Srebrenica Failure (Balkan Insight, link): "The US National Security Archive published documents detailing how the UN and international community failed to take action to prevent the Srebrenica massacres in July 1995."
EU:
Shutting Down Jihadist Websites Won't Stop Terrorism (The Atlantic, link):
"In the days since terror struck Paris, European officials have began to look more closely at websites like al-Fateh. French and Belgian lawmakers have already proposed laws to silence online hate speech, in an attempt to counter the widespread use of online-communication platforms by followers of the Islamic State for propaganda and incitement.
"The laws follow a European tradition of restrictive laws on hate speech, but with a 21st-century surveillance-state twist. Existing laws, which have been in place for decades, are designed to protect at-risk groups from harm. They target racism, hatred, defamation, the incitement of violence, and Holocaust denial. But the new proposals go further, restricting the entire citizenry’s civil liberties in the name of national security. And they may do little to make France and Blegium safer."
EU:
Violence comes home: an interview with Arun Kundnani (Open Democracy, link):
"ISIS’s recruits are not corrupted by ideology but by the end of ideology. More radicalisation, in the genuine sense of the word, is the solution, not the problem."
FINLAND:
Lindström willing to consider sentencing terrorists to death (Helsinki Times, link):
"Jari Lindström (PS), the Minister of Justice and Employment, has revealed in an interview on YLE Kioski that he is willing to consider employing capital punishment for terrorist acts."
FINLAND:
Stubb: Finland to be able to provide military assistance also to Baltics (Helsinki Times, link):
"Finland is currently not allowed to participate in military activities outside the European Union, but the legislative changes under consideration would according to Alexander Stubb (NCP), the Minister of Finance, allow it to provide military assistance also to the Baltic states."
FINLAND:
Support for intelligence activities rises after attacks in Paris (Helsinki Times, link):
"The terror attacks in Paris have reinstated a sense of urgency to the ongoing efforts to revise the intelligence laws of Finland."
FRANCE:
Connecting Past and Present: Assessing French Emergency Powers in Historical Perspective (Just Security, link):
"Reflecting on the horrific events of Friday, November 13, in Paris and the French governmental turn to emergency powers, it bears reminding that the resort to a state of emergency in a situation of crisis is not new. The French legal system incorporates three legal sources for conferring emergency powers on the government. Two of these sources are found in the French Constitution of 1958 and one has a statutory basis in a law passed on May 3, 1955. President Hollande invoked that statutory source when he declared a nationwide state of emergency throughout the Republic on November 13, 2015 which went into effect at midnight on November 14. All three legal structures derive from a shared history. This post addresses that history. We devote a separate post to discussing the substance of the new declaration of emergency in France and its extension by the French parliament last week."
Kosovo Cracks Down on Protesters Ahead of Rally (Balkan Insight, link):
"While the opposition prepares a 'peaceful march' on Albania’s Independence Day in Pristina, the police have arrested a number of those involved in recent violent demonstrations."
LUXEMBOURG:
No burka ban in Luxembourg (Luxemburger Wort, link):
"Luxembourg will not adopt a law prohibiting the wearing of a full-body veil in public spaces. The decision was made on Friday evening by four government ministers and the leaders of the four largest parliamentary factions."
Macedonia Probes Claims About ‘Forged' IDs (Balkan Insight, link):
"Macedonia's new opposition interim Interior Minister, Oliver Spasovski, said the police organized crime department was investigating allegations that at least 30,000 fake IDs had been produced in time for next year's early elections."
NETHERLANDS:
Car computers pose a privacy risk, motoring body warns (Dutch News, link):
"Car manufacturers are monitoring driver behaviour and personal information through software installed in their vehicles, Dutch motoring organisation ANWB said on Wednesday."
SCOTLAND:
‘Serious consideration’ to be given to holding inquiry into Sheku Bayoh death (The Guardian, link):
"Assurance comes from Nicola Sturgeon during meeting with family of 31-year-old who died in police custody in May"
UK:
Demands for Scottish Government to set up inquiry into undercover police operations amid allegations over secret Met cop Mark Kennedy (Herald Scotland, link):
"CAMPAIGNERS have demanded that the Scottish Government launch an inquiry into the secret activities of an undercover Metropolitan police officer who infiltrated protest groups north of the border.
Activist Jason Kirkpatrick said notorious ex-Met officer Mark Kennedy’s spying on protesters at the G8 in Gleneagles was extensive and suspects he tampered with his group’s media work during the 2005 global summit.
However, he believes his concerns will be not heard at the Pitchford Inquiry – set up by the UK Government to investigate undercover policing – as the judge-led probe only relates to England and Wales."
UK:
Even when Britain's youth prisons improve, they fail (Politics.co.uk, link):
"This is what improvement looks like in Britain's crumbling young offenders' estate: young boys not leaving their cells for 23 hours a day for fear of violence, widespread hunger and regular solitary confinement. Improvement is apparently a very low bar."
UK:
Paris, jihadis, tech giants ... What is David Cameron's speechwriter banging on about now? (The Register, link): "An article by the UK Prime Minister's chief speechwriter suggests Silicon Valley is happily aiding "tech-savvy jihadists."
"It echoes demands we've heard since the killings in France this month. A UK law professor and an infosec academic have helped us dismantle the piece."
UK:
Police cuts: chief constables tell officers to prepare for the worst (The Guardian, link):
"George Osborne’s autumn statement could bring police officer numbers down to levels not seen since the 1970s"