Russian news agency RIA Novosti hosted a video linkup between experts in Moscow, Brussels and London to discuss whether the world will become a safer place without the world’s number one terrorist, Osama bin Laden.
An almost ten-year hunt for al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden ended in Pakistan on May 2, when the world’s number one terrorist was killed in a special operation by U.S. Navy SEALs. But the Taliban movement and al Qaeda supporters have no plans to end their fight and threaten to launch retaliatory attacks on the governments of the United States and Pakistan. The security alert level was increased at U.S. embassies around the world. Officers of U.S. security services, experts and Interpol warn that bin Laden’s death may spark a new wave of terrorist activity.
Will the world become a safer place after bin Laden’s death? Will terrorists fight to retaliate for the death of their leader? Will al Qaeda outlive its leader and how strong is the Taliban movement today? What impact will bin Laden’s death have on the U.S. and NATO forces currently deployed in Afghanistan? Will bin Laden’s death affect Russia’s troubled North Caucasus republics? All these questions and many more were discussed during the video linkup.
Participants in Moscow:
- Director of the Center for the Analysis of Middle East conflict at the Institute of U.S. and Canada Studies Alexander Shumilin
Representatives of the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, and members of the International Association of Veterans of Russia’s elite Alpha Anti-Terror Unit have also been invited to take part in the discussion.
In Brussels:
- President of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center Claude Moniquet
In London:
- Director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Nigel Inkster
- Chair of International Relations and Terrorism Studies at King's College London, Prof. Anatol Lieven
