Ryan Shaffer

The soundtrack of neo-fascism: youth and music in the National Front

ABSTRACT Shaffer examines youth involvement in the National Front and the development of neo-fascist music as a conduit for its ideas. Using rare publications and interviews with National Front members, he argues that youth had a profound impact on post-war British fascism by influencing fascist ideology and tactics. Following challenges from the Anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism, the National Front started its own youth outreach programmes that reshaped neo-fascism and how neo-fascists distributed their message. In adopting skinhead style and music, the organization spread ‘nativist’ culture not only to gain supporters, but to counter multiculturalism in popular music and politics. Shaffers article explains how neo-fascist youth created their own publications, clubs, concerts and even a record company to provide entertainment, spread ideas, raise money, recruit and build associations with like-minded neo-fascists in other countries. With these new tactics, the young National Front members redefined British fascism, which had lasting impact on radical groups in Europe and North America.

India: the crucial years

the initial guidance that Osama bin Laden gave to the group’s predecessor – al-Qaeda in Iraq – which illuminates how ISIS has diverged from the ‘traditional’ goals and strategies of its predecessors. The book focuses on issues relating to the history and symbolism of the ISIS flag, with an interesting identification of key similarities and differences between ISIS and the Abbasid dynasty. McCants discusses the group’s own apocalypticism and local popular support. There is also a focus on ISIS’ online presence, with its extensive use of Twitter and online magazine Dabiq. The apocalyptic vision ISIS proclaims is a prominent theme of the book, with a well-reasoned discussion of how it initially hindered the group. For example, McCants observes the strategic errors that former Emir Abu Ayyub al-Masri made based on his belief in the imminent arrival of the Mahdi. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, however, has seemingly shifted strategic emphasis to Caliphate building and governance. This objective analysis of the group’s development to the contemporary environment concludes with recommendations on how to combat ISIS, which amount to a relative support for the Obama administration’s current actions. The author’s research for the novel was extensive, involving translating a number of recent primary documents. The book’s examination of the split between traditional al-Qaeda strategies and ISIS’ sectarian and apocalyptic vision is more rigorous than most other popular works on ISIS. However, one weakness is in the author’s discussion of strategies to combat ISIS. McCants does not provide much in the way of alternative solutions for those who might question the efficacy of current counter-ISIS strategies. Additionally, he arguably pays insufficient attention to the dynamic between ISIS and its neighbouring states – for example, Turkey – and how eroding external support might hinder the flow of money and foreign fighters to ISIS. The dynamic nature of the group indicates that a more fully encompassing response might be more beneficial to bringing about its destruction. Should this option be pursued, McCants’ book does not offer much guidance to policy-makers. Overall, McCants’ objective analysis provides us with an informative text that can be easily read and understood by those without a deep understanding of ISIS. Its extensive appendices add more information for those not familiar with Islamic literature. The book’s succinctness makes it a highly informative primer for government officials and policy-makers.

The new Arthashastra: a security strategy for India

helpful in his interpretation of the language used in the Butler Report where he takes terse bureaucratic phrases and suggests the true meaning of the words carefully employed. This section is particularly enjoyable if for no other reason than to gain an insight into British bureaucratic double-talk. Stewart speaks briefly of Special Operations as an issue ‘likely ... to cause problems for Western intelligence services’. As many have said before, he emphatically rejects the notion that Special Operations should fall within the purview of intelligence organization which are mandated to collect information and generally ill-equipped to carry out dastardly tasks. Similarly, he dismisses the notion of political assassinations not only on ethics but also on practicality, in that the resulting outcomes do not necessarily result in the improvement of a situation. Enjoyable throughout the book are the snippets of insightful information from conversations with the ‘great’ of the intelligence business. For example, his recollections of what Helms and Colby told him about the Bay of Pigs invasion add details to an understanding of this event, while introducing a human dimension to a convolutedly planned and confusingly executed operation. The relative brevity of the book makes it ideal for those with some understanding of the topic who seek a quick overview of the intelligence world. The author covers much necessary knowledge in a quick and well-written format. But, the book is, sadly, shorter than this reader would have preferred. A significant benefit of the book is that Stewart has vast experience of the intelligence world and embraces the opportunity to pass on some of his observations and comment on lessons learned. This makes the book valuable to the practitioner and academic specialist. Alas, this reader would have enjoyed expanded details of some of the topics raised and augmented with more of Stewart’s interpretation of the ‘how’, ‘why’ and ‘so what’. The uniqueness of the book rests entirely with these insights provided by Steward or retold from contemporaneous comments overheard. And, more of these would have been better. Stewart concludes the book with a Valedictory, expressing his joy in the profession he chose. He attests to the importance of intelligence but is clear in his view that it is not a panacea. The value of intelligence rests with being provided in the right context to intelligence clients who understand the strengths and weaknesses of the craft.

Memoirs of a Kenyan Spymaster, by Bart Joseph Kibati, Nairobi, Nairobi Academic Press, 2016, 275 pp., KSh 1,500 (paperback), ISBN 9789966149176

noticed: the Abwehr (German military intelligence) Enigma machine was solved in October 1941 by Dillwyn Knox with the help of Mavis Lever and Margaret Rock – not by Oliver Strachey and his section in 1940 (p. 147). Stronger sub-editing would have moved the longer quotations (e.g. pp. 113–116 and 132–6) to appendices, and tidied up some detail such as missing page references for books. As anyone who has written on GC&CS’s senior members knows, it is very difficult to find out exactly what they did. Writing a full-length book on most of them is an almost impossible task – hence the sub-title about ‘Code-Breaking from Room 40 to Berkeley Street ...’. The sub-title covers a huge area, which inevitably results in major omissions: the book has very little on traffic analysis or breaking World War II hand ciphers, and nothing on cipher security, where GC&CS failed badly during the war. However, Joel Greenberg provides quite a lot of information about the work of Berkeley Street under Denniston’s leadership. He has done well with the limited material available on Denniston, and provided a fitting tribute to a sadly neglected, but very important, figure.

Brian Glyn Williams. Inferno in Chechnya: The Russian-Chechen Wars, the Al Qaeda Myth, and the Boston Marathon Bombings: Lebanon, NH: ForeEdge/University Press of New England, 2015. 296 pp.,

This book centers on the conflict between Chechnya and Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Brian Glyn Williams starts with the centuries-old clashes between Russia and Chechen hig...

29.95 hardcover. ISBN 978-1-61168-737-8

This book centers on the conflict between Chechnya and Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Brian Glyn Williams starts with the centuries-old clashes between Russia and Chechen hig...

Inferno in Chechnya: The Russian-Chechen Wars, the Al Qaeda Myth, and the Boston Marathon Bombings, by Brian Glyn Williams: Lebanon, NH: ForeEdge/University Press of New England, 2015. 296 pp.,

This book centers on the conflict between Chechnya and Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Brian Glyn Williams starts with the centuries-old clashes between Russia and Chechen hig...

29.95 hardcover. ISBN 978-1-61168-737-8

This book centers on the conflict between Chechnya and Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Brian Glyn Williams starts with the centuries-old clashes between Russia and Chechen hig...

Inferno in Chechnya: The Russian-Chechen Wars, the Al Qaeda Myth, and the Boston Marathon Bombings, by Brian Glyn Williams

(originally produced by Arnold Leese but reactivated by Jordan in 1979) and the novels Merrie England–2,000 (1993) and The Uprising (2004). Unfortunately, although the groupuscular, subcultural dynamics of Britain’s neo-Nazi underground are adeptly woven into Jackson’s narrative, they never threaten to move this book away from the realm of the biographical. Therefore, while the aforementioned early emphasis on conceptualizing neoNazism demonstrates an impressive scholarly rigour, it ultimately feels slightly at odds with the overall tone of the book, even when returned to in the conclusion. Moreover, it is hard to shake the impression that Jordan’s political odyssey, while recounted by Jackson in absorbing fashion, is less complicated and multifaceted than that of other post-war British fascist leaders— such as John Tyndall or Nick Griffin—who made more concerted attempts to repackage fascism for a hostile British audience. In contrast, as the conclusion emphasizes: ‘For Jordan, the title of his speech in Trafalgar Square in July 1962, “Hitler was Right”, summarizes his political worldview’ (246). Jordan’s position—as represented here—was only rarely subtler than this. These doubts do not, of course, alter the fact that Colin Jordan and Britain’s Neo-Nazi Movement represents a hugely important new entry into the historiography of British fascism. It will undoubtedly become a key text for scholars interested in the subject, and also deserves an audience among historians of race in post-war Britain. While its conceptual side may prompt a somewhat divided reception in the wider field of fascist studies, Jackson’s impressive narrative ability makes this book both a standout work of political biography and a significant new historical account of the development of one strand of the British extreme right since 1945.

Brian Glyn Williams. Inferno in Chechnya: The Russian-Chechen Wars, the Al Qaeda Myth, and the Boston Marathon Bombings

tion is essential. Defeat on the battlefield will not eliminate violent Islamist ideology. The problem of Islamist terrorism will be with us for some time, long after the defeat of ISIL in Iraq and Syria, or of Boko Haram in Africa. It will breed underground or across the Internet. Its tactics may change but its commitment to violence will not. Governments will need to maintain their vigilance and their preparedness to act decisively to detect and disrupt terrorist intentions before they materialise into bombs and bullets in crowded shopping malls or airports. And they will need to understand the nature of the threat and its mutations. This is where the Handbook of terrorism in the Asia-Pacific will prove an essential companion for counter-terrorism experts across the region, providing accurate context against which they can understand and deal with the problem of terrorism on both a national and a cooperative regional basis. Its authors and contributors are to be commended for their comprehensive and intelligent contribution.