International Relations - Essay Example

Realizing the fact that this menace needs to be tackled collectively, a coalition of 136 countries came into existence to fight this new international manifestation. International terrorism can be referred to as the violent activities carried out in a country by any rival country either by means of physically participating in terrorism or by supporting or exploiting the local individuals through brain-washing or the financial support. It is considered as a new form of warfare thereby avoiding physical contact with rival country, hence ensuring safety of men and material that is likely to be damaged during physical war (Netanyahu and Mekhon, 1981).

International terrorism is almost same in tactics and techniques like normal terrorism except for the one fact that it is operated from across the geographical borders. It involves use of terrorism across international borders for the purpose of destabilizing the borders or weakening the solidity among the people and their homeland. The un-guarded borders and un-checked cross-border activities make the terrorism comparatively easier. However the effectiveness of international terrorism can be controlled by a number of means.

The most important tool available with terrorist organizations is the media. As in case of hijacking, the interviews of hijackers as well as the victims, broadcasted on media support the terrorists to achieve their goals by communicating their agendas to the world as well as showing helplessness of the government as well as security forces. The unrestricted access to media can help in sabotaging the terrorists’ motives and not letting them project themselves as brave people who are fearless to death (Panday, 2006).

Terrorism is a global issue, which can only be tackled by mutual support of most of the countries. At present, United Nations is the only organization which is playing its role in bringing countries against terrorism on one grid and fighting the terrorism as a combined dilemma. However, there are certain measures which can be adopted at individual country level to minimize the effects of international terrorism. Pre-emption is one of the means to avoid terrorism which is only possible by gathering requisite information about identity, goals, objectives and likely targets of the terrorists and subsequently countering them pre-emptively.

Once a state has been proved to be terrorism sponsor state, it should be isolated by international community and be forced to create unfavourable situation for the terrorists operating from their land. The other passive measures that can be taken to prevent the international terrorism, once they have been identified, are by disrupting their supplies and communications. Thereby rendering the terrorists helpless and without sufficient resources to generate any terrorist activity. Besides gathering the information about international terrorists and isolating its sponsoring states, there is a need to develop emergency response capability, so as to react promptly to any terrorist situation / activity that have taken place.

The main objective of this response should be the damage control along with denying the terrorists’ access to unchecked media. The outcomes from such counter actions must be shared with international community highlighting the hand or support behind the terrorists and they should be brought to international court of justice instead of merely making a hue and cry