Handling International Terrorism essays

Handling International Terrorism essays The September 11th attacks marked a clear escalation in quality of international terrorism. They have comprehensively changed the way in which we think about terrorism and react to it. The terrorist attacks proved that geographical separation from the area of operations no longer safeguards homeland security. It further reinforces the widely held assumption that international terrorism is the main threat to European security. Nowadays words and concepts such as culture of fear, civilization clash, rogue states, pre-emptive war, weapons of mass distraction, willing coalition and asymmetric war have become very common, even in informal speeches and in daily discussions with friends and family. International terrorism is a very wide problem that encapsulate a different and varied aspects. The type of terrorism causing most contemporary international concern is a very complex phenomenon. Its manifestations, such as a systematic use of violence and intimidation, are as many and various as its motivations. Its peculiarity is in its capacity to reinvent itself. It does not have flags or border. It would be a big mistake if we assumed that any group with an extreme ideology must be directed by al-Qaeda, or by one of its regional offshoots. Terrorists have surprised and shocked us - in terms of who has been targeted, when, how and on what scale. Terrorists simply do not always do what others expect them to do. There is a significant capacity for terrorists to do harm, and on a very large scale, and it should never be underestimated. Commuter transport systems remain immensely vulnerable in every major city in the world (i.e. the nerve agent Sarin, used in Tokyo underground attack); highly destructive conventional bombs can be made using the cheapest and most freely available mat ...