Day: April 4, 2020

On 30 March, the Armament Research Services published a report that examines the range of emergent technologies which are influencing the craft-production of small arms by individuals, and the effects these are having on the types of weapons that can be produced, and the viability of those outputs.  It seems that 3D-printed firearms have come a long way since 2013, and weapons are steadily improving.  There is a mistaken belief that such designs are limited to only a few models.

http://armamentresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ARES-Research-Report-8-Desktop-Firearms.pdf

 

If you’d like to help me buy that (badly needed) new laptop or, even better, a new desktop to replace the one now 5,000 miles away – https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KoIvM842y

 

On 3 April, Vice reported that they are supplying them through the same exact supply chain, through the same exact marketing mechanisms, that they have with illicit drugs.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7jg3z/chinese-drug-dealers-have-a-new-product-knock-off-n95-masks-for-coronavirus

 

If you’d like to help me buy that (badly needed) new laptop or, even better, a new desktop to replace the one now 5,000 miles away – https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KoIvM842y

 

The UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Enforcement Directorate has published a new Trend Alert to replace a 2017 original.  Such Trends Alerts are designed to increase awareness, both within the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and among UN agencies and policymakers, of emerging trends identified through CTED’s engagement with Member States on their implementation of the relevant Council resolutions. The Alerts also include relevant evidence-based research conducted by members of the CTED Global Research Network (GRN) and other researchers.  It describes the threat as not a coherent or easily defined movement, but rather a shifting, complex and overlapping milieu of individuals, groups and movements (online and offline) espousing different but related ideologies, often linked by hatred and racism toward minorities, xenophobia, islamophobia or anti-Semitism.

https://www.un.org/sc/ctc/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CTED_Trends_Alert_Extreme_Right-Wing_Terrorism.pdf

 

If you’d like to help me buy that (badly needed) new laptop or, even better, a new desktop to replace the one now 5,000 miles away – https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KoIvM842y