Richard Dowden
Friday, April 10, 2015 - 06:21
If the world has learned anything about Islamic fundamentalism in the last two decades it is that such revenge actions are utterly counterproductive. Indeed, they have superheated the hatred and fueled further attacks. Kenya’s leaders must take these attacks seriously, understand what they mean and devise smarter strategies and more effective tactics for dealing with them.
Friday, March 27, 2015 - 06:48
Last week President Salva Kiir of South Sudan rejected all the main proposals put forward by the African Union to bring peace to Africa’s newest state. According to the author of the article, "this means war".
Friday, September 5, 2014 - 06:06
A loosely interconnected Islamist uprising is spreading from Syria in northern Arabia to Mali in West Africa and threatens to produce terrorism in Europe and the US. That is the clear and immediate danger. But the Western response to it may signal the demise of the American-led global prescription which followed the end of the Cold War in 1989.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - 10:05
Very good news on Wednesday when Barclays Bank agreed to give Dahabshiil, the Somali remittance company, sufficient time to find another way of transferring money from the UK and elsewhere to Somalia before closing its account with them. Up to $2 billion a year is sent from Somali exiles to their families back home, mainly through Dahabshiil.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - 08:45
This is a crucial moment for the International Criminal Court. If it drops the ball or the UN Security Council (UNSC) kicks the Kenyan cases into the long grass, the ICC is finished. At present the Court has agreed – reluctantly – to a postponement of the cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice-President William Ruto until February. Interestingly it has done so because the prosecutors did not object – they wanted more time to present witnesses. The Court did not believe that Kenyatta’s presidential duties were a reason to delay the trial.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - 11:06
Was Harry Lime, the evil anti-hero of Graham Greene’s novel The Third Man, right? Does human progress require violence and cruelty to drive it? Some argue that the two world wars generated a huge amount of scientific research that gave us the benefits far quicker than peace would have done.
Friday, September 27, 2013 - 08:22
What does the appalling attack on people at the Westgate Shopping Centre signify? Does it mean that Al Shabaab is getting stronger or weaker? Was it a show of strength, striking at a multinational target in the heart of Nairobi, or a desperate if spectacular attack on civilians at an easy, poorly-protected target? Is this the new Shabaab or was it an Al Qaeda operation using the Shabaab brand name?