IRAQ'S
PARAMILITARY FORCES
Iraqi PM Haider al Abadi has recently signed a decree that grants the inclusion of the Iraqi paramilitary militias that fought against the Islamic State into the Armed Forces. Most of their members are Iraqi and non-Iraqi Shias...
NIGER'S
DANGEROUS ISLAM
Out of a population of roughly 21 million, Niger’s Muslims represent about 80%. It is a Sunni Islam (only about 5% is Shiite), which is generally moderate, widely influenced by the Sufi confraternities and still soaked with animist beliefs. But as often happens in very poor countries (60% of Niger’s population is below the poverty threshold...
THE
WAR OF SPIES
Whatever
the reason, the physical elimination of the enemies of the
State is a practice that countries either use regularly or
in extreme cases. The so-called license to kill is granted
to some intelligence agencies only. Mossad, CIA, SVR and FSB
have it, and so do the French DGSE and the British MI6 from
time to time. Other intelligence agencies, such as the
Italian AISE or the German BND are not given this kind of
“authorization”. We’re talking about “democratic” countries,
because authoritarian regimes don’t need to grant the
permission to kill opponents. They just do it. Just look at
what happened to Kim Jon-un’s half brother, Kim Jong-nam...
