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Dr Paul Stott
East Midlands
Academic researching terrorism, in particular British Jihadism.
Interests: Terrorism, Islamism, Jihadism, Conspiracy Theory, Brexit, the political fringe, Boxing, Manchester United, Cricket, Lancashire CCC
Recent Activity
Rememberance Sunday In Corby
Posted 4 days ago at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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What Lies Behind Donald Trump's Approach to China and Pakistan?
On Wednesday 7th November I was in Brussels for a European Foundation for South Asian Studies conference on the Chinese Pakistan Economic Corridor. I spoke on the issue of Trump's approach to China and Pakistan, making the argument that Pakistan has burnt its bridges with America, which pushes it deeper into the embrace of China. You can get an overview of the full range of speakers on the EFSAS website here. A video recording of my talk can be seen below. My slides on Trump and Pakistan follow, and an audio recording can be heard on Soundcloud. Download Stott presentation... Continue reading
Posted 5 days ago at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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The American Way of War
Today's Sunday Times magazine has a fascinating interview with Stanley McChrystal, the former US general who commanded US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, having earlier led America's Joint Special Operations Command. Of all the revelations, perhaps the most remarkable is that the US, fighting insurgency on two fronts, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, had such little knowledge concerning key elements of that struggle. McChrystal observes: "I had zero experience with interrogation. None us of had. So there's nobody who's ever done it before. To be honest, I didn't have a single person in the room who really knew a thing... Continue reading
Posted Oct 28, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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Explaining Brexit, Referendum Conspiracy Theories and the Ongoing Realignment of Our Politics
Last month I was asked to talk to a group of visiting Danish media students about Brexit - given the field of academic campaigners for Leave is rather small, it may get to be a regular gig! The piece below needs a little spit and polish. However, as the Prime Minister continues to kick the can down the road, and sections of elite opinion that refuse to accept we are leaving the European Union mobilise, it seems appropriate to publish it here, and to do so now. Personal Introduction My academic research is primarily into terrorism, security, Islamism and conspiracy... Continue reading
Posted Oct 20, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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Critiquing The UN: On Terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan's Strategic Interests
On September 18 I spoke at a side meeting at the 39th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva, for the think tank European Foundation for South Asian Studies. The title of the event "Preventing and Combating Growing Terrorism in South Asia" reflects ongoing concerns, but also critiqued thoroughly the 2018 UN OHCHR report on Kashmir by Prince Hussain of Jordan, and the curious language it uses towards jihadist groups. The gist of my argument was that Pakistan has long utilised jihadist actors in Kashmir, and to fail to recognise this, and to categorise this as a proxy... Continue reading
Posted Oct 4, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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Too Good To Be True?
I suspect this American story is one of those that is simply too good to be true, but reproduce it anyway: "One day this week the collector of assessed taxes in Chesterton had occasion to leave a tax-paper with a gentleman who has a small white bulldog; the paper being in fact a notice to tax that animal. No one was at home, but the collector thrust the paper under the door. Glancing at the window, he saw the dog looking steadfastly at him. The dog then deliberately took the paper in his mouth, placed his feet upon the fender,... Continue reading
Posted Oct 3, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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A Review of Al-Qaeda 2.0: A Critical Reader by Donald Holbrook (ed.)
Critical Studies on Terrorism has published my review of Al-Qaeda 2.0, which is largely a compilation of Ayman al-Zawahiri's writings in the post Bin Laden era. It shows the religosity of al-Zawahiri's world view, and the depth of the historical sweep from which he, and indeed Al-Qaeda, view the world. The first 50 people to do so, can download a free pdf copy here. I think after that, you will need access to an academic library. Continue reading
Posted Aug 12, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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We actually hear very little in terms of demand for an English parliament - the one party really pushing it, the English Democrats, has never been close to a parliamentary seat. That suggests it may well need the type of scenario sketched above.
On the historical points you make, I think 1955 was the last time there were more Tory MPs in Scotland than Labour. The Thatcher years are seen as being particularly disastrous, but it could also be argued it was Blair-Brown which killed them off until the Tory successes in 2017:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Scotland#1955#
I did have an SNP activist explain the party's rise to me in terms of the old working class Protestant vote, which had often been suspicious of Labour, switching from Conservative to SNP over the course of a generation. Perhaps, in time, those people may switch back?
Commented Aug 1, 2018 on On England, and Englishness at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
On England, and Englishness
Last year I had an article on Englishness and Brexit published in the British Politics Review, where I argued that Englishness was less important in our vote to leave the EU, than many people like to think. You can read it for free on my academia page here, but you will need to register. The Wor...
On The Death of Harold Covington
Yesterday the death was announced of US Nazi Harold Covington, best known in recent years for his attempts to establish a 'white homeland' in the pacific north west of the United States. Here in the UK, Covington had a degree of public recognition for a brief period in the early 1990s, where he lived here in Britain, and helped to establish the Combat 18 group. To see some initial reaction to his death, his Northwest Front group's initial comment can be seen here, and the Southern Poverty Law Center's obituary here. One issue with Covington was the belief in sections... Continue reading
Posted Jul 25, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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A Conservative Intellectual and Brexit
Jesse Norman is talked by some as a future leader of the Conservative Party. Bryan Appleyard's Sunday Times piece of 01/07/18 certainly tried to portray him as the leading Conservative intellectual, offering a puff piece for Norman's new book on Adam Smith. There is not much point in being an intellectual if you can't translate complicated ideas into simple formats, or struggle with basic concepts. Lets listen to the great sage on Brexit: "As I thought about the Brexit situation I found myself thinking that there are just so many questions embedded in this.... that the idea that there is... Continue reading
Posted Jul 3, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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On England, and Englishness
Last year I had an article on Englishness and Brexit published in the British Politics Review, where I argued that Englishness was less important in our vote to leave the EU, than many people like to think. You can read it for free on my academia page here, but you will need to register. The World Cup has got people thinking about Englishness again, and Tim Stanley's "To be English is to be guilty of the Original Sin" was a useful it not particularly revelatory contribution to this debate. Stanley beautifully picks up Orwell's view of the disdain the English... Continue reading
Posted Jun 27, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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What Terrorism Costs France
Tucked away in the 'In Brief' section of the Daily Telegraph's sports pages, you could easily miss one of the saddest items of the day: "The threat of terrorist attacks in France means no World Cup matches will be broadcast on big screens in public spaces, the government said yesterday." When the barbarians are inside the gates, we lose the freedom to even socialise together. A desperately sad decision to see. Continue reading
Posted May 30, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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Brendan Cox, Survivors Against Terror and the Manchester Bombing
The 22nd May was a year to the day since the Manchester Arena bombing in which 22, mostly young people and children, were killed. To coincide with events held in Manchester, the Survivors Against Terror group (SAT) issued an open letter in the Observer of 20th May (scroll down here), calling for five distinct positions to be adopted against terrorism. This received considerable media coverage, see for example that from the BBC. The main figure in SAT is Brendan Cox. Whilst he resigned from positions in two charities linked to continuing his wife’s work in February, his work on countering... Continue reading
Posted May 25, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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Anti-Semitism: Where the Labour Left and Right Agree?
Posted Apr 25, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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Northamptonshire Is Out.....
From todays Sunday Times 'Best Places to Live, 2018' "There is no room for Northamptonshire on the list. It has attractive countryside, handsome houses and a plausible commute to the capital - but please tell us where we should make ourselves at home." Continue reading
Posted Mar 18, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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What Homeland Achieves?
Watching the most recent episode (series 7, episode 4) I can't have been alone in cheering Brett O'Keefe and hoping he and the militia were to survive the FBI siege. And yet O'Keefe is clearly based on Alex Jones, and... Continue reading
Posted Mar 15, 2018 at 9/11 CultWatch
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The Fortean Fall
Mark E Smith completists have some job to do securing every single Fall album - there are reportedly 38. One thing you can get though is the current Fortean Times, which has a small pic of the great man in the top left hand corner of its cover, and the heading "Legends of The Fall: The Weird World of Mark E Smith". The subsequent article perhaps does not quite live up to its billing - it is a mere one page piece by a New Zealand academic, Dean Ballinger, entitled perhaps predictably "There's a Ghost in My House". Ballinger is... Continue reading
Posted Mar 3, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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The Greatness of Cyrille Regis
To get an indication of how great a footballer Cyrille Regis was, and what players of his era overcame, watch these six minutes of highlights from West Brom's 5-3 win at Old Trafford in 1979. Make sure you watch to the end for the description manager Ron Atkinson gives of Regis 'one of the coloured front people'. He went on to be much more than that. Continue reading
Posted Jan 15, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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The Perils of Media Fact Checking
One journalistic tool that is now used frequently is to 'fact-check' particular claims or statements by politicians and campaign groups. What could possibly be wrong with that? Well, quite a bit actually. This is Mollie Ziegler's take: "The 'fact-checking trend' meant that journalists would gain more power. They wouldn't just get to determine which stories saw the light of day and which were killed or downplayed; they would pick the angle and framing for the stories and determine who was quoted and how. And through fact-checking, they would tell people what to think about claims made in these stories." Mollie... Continue reading
Posted Jan 13, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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Fear For Our Democracy In 2018? It Has Never Looked Healthier
On the Left Foot Forward website, the Green MEP Molly Scott Cato, has written an article saying that, after, the events of recent years, she fears for our democracy. It seems a few people shooting boo at High Court judges or Tory Remainers represents an existential crisis. Below is my reply. I have no idea if Left Foot Forward welcomes, or censures, critical comment, so I have posted it here just in case. It seems strange to be lectured on democracy, by an MEP who cannot accept the largest mass vote in our people's history. Every vote counts for Molly,... Continue reading
Posted Jan 2, 2018 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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Brexit Resisted? The Remain Activists Trying to Link Brexit to Neo-Nazis
On 9th November, ITV showed a documentary, Undercover: Inside Britain's New Far-Right. It no longer seems to be on ITV's website, but is available at various points online, for example here. Documentaries of this type were the staple of an earlier era - remember World In Action in the 1990s? The attempts to convince a sceptical public that a far-right terrorist machine was being established in Britain, via the group Combat 18? The security services, under pressure from cuts in an era that was post Soviet but pre 9/11, were needed to save us from this terrible menace. Similar programmes... Continue reading
Posted Dec 23, 2017 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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December Will Be Magic Again
From 2008 - 2015 I did a lot of security work in order to finance my PhD. Some of the best times were working as a doorman at Epsom Downs racecourse at the Christmas parties, where an enormous effort went into preparing the Queens and Duchess stands for dinner dances. There are two great pluses to door work. Attractive women speak to you, and you meet some real characters, good and bad. After one party, a man who must have been well into his late 60s, but still had a military bearing, talked at length about his security work in... Continue reading
Posted Dec 22, 2017 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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Hafiz Saeed: A Series of Curious Developments
Yesterday I had a short article published about the developments surrounding Hafiz Saeed, a prominent Pakistani jihadist, currently trying to enter politics in the Islamic Republic. You can view the piece, on the European Foundation for South Asian studies website, here. Continue reading
Posted Dec 13, 2017 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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On EU Referendum Conspiracy Theories
Conspiracy theories attract those who are trying to make sense of the world. For Muslims observing events like 9/11 or 7/7, and more recently the rise of Islamic State, it is often easier to find comfort in such explanations than... Continue reading
Posted Nov 26, 2017 at 9/11 CultWatch
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A Brief History of Jihadism: The British South Asian Nexus
A few weeks ago I was asked to write a short piece by SOAS University of London, for the section of the Guardian website they use to promote the university's work and some of its ideas and thinkers. This is my contribution, A Brief History of Jihadism: The British South Asian Nexus. Updated: 30 May 2018 I believe the Guardian take down sponsored content after a set period, and have done so in this case. Below is what they did publish. Download A brief history of jihadism_ the British south Asian nexus _ SOAS Roots _ The Guardian 25 10... Continue reading
Posted Oct 28, 2017 at I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back
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