Latest news with #InstituteforPeaceResearchandSecurityPolicy
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Terrorism researcher: lone perpetrators with vague motives
Personal motives have played a role alongside ideology in several Islamist terrorist attacks in Germany in the past five years, according to a terrorism expert. Martin Kahl, from the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, took part in a press conference organized by the Integration Media Service on Thursday. He told journalists that although the perpetrators were integrated into "ideological narratives" that were circulating worldwide, one could get the impression "that in some cases the perpetrators hope to find a way out of their own life crises through their actions". Often, he said, the perpetrators' own circumstances, which they themselves judge to be unsatisfactory and which play an important role in planning the act, are supplemented by an Islamist motive with the aim of "giving the act more significance". The perpetrators often seek to boost their own self-confidence and become famous. In some cases, it is also difficult for the courts to determine whether ideology is really the main motive. "It can be so interwoven that it is almost impossible to separate it," said Kahl. The suspects involved in the last four attacks that were allegedly motivated by religion - in Mannheim, Solingen, Munich and Berlin - were not found to have any severe mental disorders. While in the past, Western military interventions such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan were the main trigger for Islamist terrorists, experts believe that later on, Mohammed caricatures and the burning of the Koran played a greater role. Between 2014 and 2017, attacks were carried out in connection with the terrorist group Islamic State (IS). According to Kahl, IS ideology remains a point of reference. However, the most recent attacks in Germany, which he says were all carried out by "lone operators" with rather vague motives, had little or no connection to terrorist groups. Since 2015, Kahl and his team have documented a total of 15 Islamist terrorist attacks in Germany, as well as four failed attacks, 33 suspected cases and 33 attacks that were prevented by the security authorities in the planning or preparation phase
The National
08-02-2025
- Science
- The National
World is ‘accelerating into the problem' of climate change amid global temperature surge
The news that last month was the hottest January on record offers further evidence that the international community is a long way from getting to grips with the pressing threats posed by climate change. Temperatures in January were about 1.75°C above pre-industrial levels, indicating that the world is likely to breach the 2015 Paris Agreement's target of keeping increases below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The El Nino weather system in the Pacific, which involves cyclic increases in temperature caused by changes in water circulation patterns, has ended, so scientists thought January 2025 might be cooler than the same month last year, which also set a record. But this was not the case. 'We have no understanding of why it's got so high, and the scientific community doesn't understand. It might be that we've triggered cascading tipping points,' said Prof Mike Berners-Lee, a climate researcher at Lancaster University in the UK. Prof Berners-Lee, author of There is No Planet B and How Bad are Bananas: The Climate Footprint of Everything, outlines why the world has failed to deal with climate change, and what is needed to get to grips with the issue, in a book published to be next month, A Climate of Truth. 'Our species is operating in a different context, now, from the one we always used to be in. We haven't learnt to adapt to it,' he told The National. 'We're very powerful compared to the ability of the planet to put itself back together again.' Prof Berners-Lee said people around the world 'haven't got anywhere with the climate crisis', with the use of fossil fuels increasing. "We're making the climate crisis worse by a larger amount every year than we did the year before. We're accelerating into the problem," he added. Scientist believe efforts have so far fallen short of what is needed to prevent severe effects from climate change, despite most of the technology needed to achieve net zero being available already. Dr Delf Rothe, of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg in Germany, and author of Securitising Global Warming: A Climate of Complexity, said renewable energy sources such as solar power were becoming more competitive and 'could take over' from fossil fuels. 'That's very positive,' he said. '[But] my perception is it's not sufficient, because there are not enough cuts in energy use in total. As long as energy consumption is increasing, due to digital technology, artificial intelligence and so forth, the degree and speed of the transition isn't sufficient.' Figures from the International Energy Agency show that in 2022 global electricity demand rose by 2.4 per cent, while in 2023 it increased by 2.2 per cent. Without relying on technology such as carbon capture and storage – where emissions are captured from industrial plants and stored underground – or direct air capture, where carbon dioxide is taken from the atmosphere and stored, Dr Rothe said there had to be 'some political steering' so growth in energy consumption was phased out. Countries often put off making the 'really difficult decisions' about dealing with climate change, said Dr Phillip Williamson, an honorary associate professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia in the UK. 'Then the crunch comes and there are costs involved and there's quite vocal opposition,' he said, adding that people in effect say they 'believe in net zero, but not yet'. 'The climate disaster might happen sooner,' he explained. 'The climate science isn't sufficiently well defined. The uncertainties are that natural systems can have a life of their own.' Prof Berners-Lee said climate breakdown was only one of myriad environmental problems facing the planet. He said the world was in the midst of a polycrisis, because of the 'haemorrhaging' of biodiversity, plastic pollution, especially microplastics, and loss of land fertility. The key thing needed to deal with climate change is 'reducing the rate at which fossil fuels are taken out of the ground and used', Prof Berners-Lee said. He added that changes in people's diets – with a reduction in the quantities of meat and dairy foods consumed – were also important. If the necessary changes are to be made, he said more truth was required in politics, business and the media. Obscuring the truth could prevent the necessary action from being taken. 'We have this post-truth [culture] in the UK, and US. We've been pretty careless about the truth and we don't need to be,' he said. He called on the public to highlight instances of 'greenwashing', when a product or service is described incorrectly as being environmentally friendly. 'There's so many people saying, 'The problem is so big.' [People ask] is there anything meaningful they can do? I say, 'Yes there is, if you insist on high standards of honesty,'' he said. While Prof Berners-Lee said there were failings in the world's approach to climate change, he lauded efforts in the UAE to transition away from a reliance on fossil fuels. 'I was there a few months ago,' he said. 'It's transitioned in quite a remarkable way. It seems to be a global role model on what it looks like to transition away from fossil fuels while having a vibrant economy. There is so much opportunity to grow further in the desert using new technologies and take us away from fossil fuels.'
