Roman Kupchinsky

Also by Roman Kupchinsky

• August 30, 2005

  World: Lessons Of The London Bombing Probe

  The investigation of the London Underground and bus bombings on 7 July and the “unexploded bombs” incident on 21 July has been the largest in recent British history. Tens of thousands of police and intelligence agents around the world have cooperated in this titanic effort.

• August 18, 2005

  World: Insuring Against Terror

  The economic cost of the 7 July London bombings has been estimated at more than $1 billion The extent of the damage to the London Underground and the country's tourism industry during and after the 7 July attacks has been estimated at nearly $1.1 billion. The incident was a reminder of the thorny issues surrounding insurance and terrorism, a reminder that is all the more pressing because the U.S. Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) is due to expire at the end of this year.

• August 15, 2005

  World: Police Discuss Shoot-To-Kill Policies

  The July London bombings have sparked renewed debate on the best means of combating terror On 8 July, one day after the suicide bombings on the London transport system that killed 56 people, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) issued recommendations saying that police officers should shoot to kill anyone suspected of being a suicide bomber if they believe that an attack is imminent.

• August 06, 2005

  World: 'Could I Please See Your Bio ID?'

  Would biometric IDs help thwart terrorist attacks like the 7 July bombings in London? Is the era of the conventional passport ending? The current trend points to the biometric identification card as the world's future international identification (ID) card that would be used to enter foreign countries, to make financial transactions at money machines, and as an international driver's license. It could also possibly prevent a terrorist from being allowed to enter a subway or a soccer stadium.

• August 01, 2005

  World: Following Terrorists' Mobile Trails

  1 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Two recent incidents in Italy demonstrate how the monitoring of mobile telephones helped police locate suspects. But the flip side of the coin emerged recently in Ukraine, showing the apparent ease with which mobile-phone conversations can be recorded and used to discredit an opponent -- and how difficult it is for police to locate individuals who might be listening in on a conversation illegally.

• July 22, 2005

  U.K.: A Warning In London?

  Police and Londoners following the 21 July "incidents" 22 July 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Various, and sometimes contradictory, analysis has already emerged in the aftermath of the four London "incidents" on 21 July -- three apparently coordinated minor explosions at the Oval, Warren Street, and Shepherd's Bush underground stations and another on a bus in east London.

• July 21, 2005

  EU: Fortress Europa?

  The well-established drill of reacting to a large attack by increasing what is suddenly perceived to be inadequate security now appears to be a pattern in Europe and elsewhere.

• July 14, 2005

  U.S.: Strategists Debate U.S. Military Policy

  U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (file photo) Pentagon planners have begun reviewing one of the pillars of U.S. military strategy: Should the United States maintain its long-standing policy of being prepared to fight two wars concurrently while maintaining a sufficiently effective counterterrorism/homeland defense?

• July 13, 2005

  World: Reassessing The Al-Qaeda Threat

  In the wake of the 7 July bombings in London, security experts have been brainstorming about where terrorists might strike next and how their activities in Europe are being organized. Has Al-Qaeda developed a new organizational structure that combines local cells with global planning?

• July 12, 2005

  Russia: The State Of Prisons: Barter To Survive

  http://gdb.rferl.org/2680C130-6B7A-4D2F-8B9B-C2192F45FC39.JPEG --> http://gdb.rferl.org/2680C130-6B7A-4D2F-8B9B-C2192F45FC39.JPEG "I work my life away in here and for what? Some stale bread, a bowl of 'kasha' [porridge]. I don't feel reformed. I feel overworked." -- prisoner, Omsk region of Russia.

• July 11, 2005

  World: Can Subways Be Protected?

  The aftermath of the February 2004 subway blast in Moscow (file photo) The 7 July coordinated terrorist attacks against the public-transportation system in London was just the latest of many such attacks against subways around the world. It has left analysts scrambling to come up with ways to protect these vulnerable targets.

• July 05, 2005

  Ukraine: Criminal Cases Filed Over Gas Schemes

  In a dramatic announcement that could have far-reaching consequences, Oleksandr Turchynov, the head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), said on 18 June that criminal cases have been opened concerning the activities of two offshore companies involved in gas-transportation schemes from Turkmenistan to Ukraine, schemes that allegedly deprived the Ukrainian treasury of more than $1 billion.

• June 24, 2005

  U.S.: Agency Issues Terrorism Report For 2004

  Aftermath of September 2004 blast in Baghdad U.S. President George W. Bush on 11 June nominated retired Vice Admiral John Redd to head the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), "The Washington Post" and other media reported. Redd recently headed a presidential commission on U.S. intelligence in the run-up to the war in Iraq, a commission that concluded that intelligence findings on weapons of mass destruction were "dead wrong." Before that, he served as chief operating officer of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad.

• June 14, 2005

  Ukraine: Government Attempts To Get Grip On Corruption

  A number of figures in the administration of former President Leonid Kuchma face charges (file photo) During the last two months of 2004, as the Orange Revolution was changing the face of the Ukrainian body politic, approximately $1 billion left Ukraine. Some of this money was reportedly private and some belonged to the Ukrainian treasury. The people responsible for transferring this money out of the country have been identified, according to a spokesman for the Ukrainian Interior Ministry (MVD), and investigations into the matter are under way, Interfax reported on 1 June.

• June 08, 2005

  World: The Changing Face Of Global Organized Crime

  A bomb unit after a terrorist strike in Russia 8 June 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Globalization of the world's economic and information infrastructure is shaping a new organized criminal elite. And while the organized criminal gangs of the second half of the 20th century have not disappeared, they are preparing to follow the money and adjust to the economic/regional transformations of the new century.

• May 31, 2005

  Caucasus: Is The BTC Oil Pipeline Saving Europe From Russia Or From OPEC?

  The BTC pipeline being constructed According to a 9 April 2002 report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS), the Caspian region holds oil reserves of 18-34 billion barrels, or roughly 1.8-3.3 percent of the world's proven reserves.

• May 23, 2005

  World: Information Revolution Feeds Alternative Intelligence Market

  The information revolution has spawned a global industry of private intelligence services. Some members of the U.S. Congress have recently asked whether their activities should be regulated.

• May 12, 2005

  World: The Dilemma Of Torturing Terrorists

  A statue representing a Kurdish fighter is handcuffed to a wall in a former Iraqi prison Amnesty International published a 12-point program on 12 April for preventing the use of torture to extract information from detainees, including the use of evidence obtained through torture in any proceedings.

• May 08, 2005

  World: Are Trials A Deterrent To Terrorism?

  A courtroom artist's depiction of Zacarias Moussaoui's trial April saw landmark legal proceedings in the United States and Spain against accused terrorists with suspected links to Al-Qaeda.

• May 06, 2005

  World War II -- 60 Years After: Mykola Lebed And The Ukrainian Partisan Army

  As the leaders of several former Soviet republics prepared to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe on 9 May in Moscow, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko announced on 5 March that he wants to see a reconciliation between veterans of the Soviet armed forces and those who served in the Ukrainian Partisan Army (UPA).

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