Over the last few days Russia launched one of the biggest security operations in Olympic history, as the country gears up for the Winter Games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The host city sits in something of a nasty neighbourhood with the threat of Islamic inspired terrorism emanating from the North Caucasus region. While the Sochi Olympics are an obvious security concern, all large-scale sporting events are major challenges for counter-terrorist planners.
This year security officials will have their work cut out in Brazil which hosts the World Cup and, of course, here in Scotland as Glasgow becomes the venue for the Commonwealth Games.
At first glance most people would not think of Glasgow and the Commonwealth Games as a likely target. Putting aside the obvious advantages that any large-scale gathering provides for terrorists intent on causing death and destruction, Glasgow is not Sochi. Scotland's largest city does not sit in the kind of restive geopolitical neighbourhood that includes the likes of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.
Security planners, however, cannot afford to think this way. As the world has come to realise - especially over the last few decades - terrorism can be homegrown or transnational. Let's not forget that one of the two young Chechen immigrants who carried out the deadly bombing at the Boston Marathon in the United States last year drew inspiration from militants in the distant North Caucasus. Attending Glasgow's Commonwealth Games will be national teams representing countries that find themselves on the frontline of the fight against Islamic-inspired terrorism.
Many like Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan are themselves frequent targets of Islamic extremist terrorist strikes. In these three countries alone off-shoots of al Qaeda are active in the shape of al Shabaab, Boko Haram and the Pakistan Taliban. It was al Shabaab remember that struck at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya in retribution it claimed for the Kenyan military's deployment in Somalia.
Uganda, another of the Commonwealth nations, has also been embroiled in the fight against Islamist terror both in Somalia and in providing bases and logistical support for the US and other foreign counter-terrorist operations in East Africa.
In the eyes of global jihadists all this makes the citizens, representatives and institutions of such nations legitimate targets. Last year the security budget for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games more than trebled to £90 million. For the past three years a research project funded by the European Commission has seen a collaboration of several Scottish universities in the shape of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research examine the security issues faced by the Glasgow 2014 Games. Over the course of the event too a massive police, security and stewarding operation will take place. Most likely all will go well and Glasgow and Scotland will rise to the challenge of hosting the "friendly games." But it pays to be prepared.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article