On the one hand the reality of terrorist attacks in the west over the past 10 years is well below the fevour pitch that the media manages to maintain. Of course one attack, one life lost, one family torn apart is too much, but when set against the average murder rate over a 10 year period a little ray of reality and contextualisation peeps through.
On the other hand we have a continued military engagement with nations who sponsor terrorism in an attempt to give them the stability and the backbone to pursue political means of reform. The fear here is that we are in fact just pushing the would be terrorist from one place to another with safe havens in Yemen and Pakistan opening their arms wide to the radical Islamists.
On the third hand (?) we have active terrorist plots being executed throughout the non western world, daily body counts in Afganistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Malaysia, Iran, Palastine, etc etc.
So, sitting in our ivory tower in the west, what should we make of it and what do the next 10 years hold for us?
I agree that we have so far been largely unaffected on the home front by terorism (Which in itself allows some to make the argument that it isn't so bad and that we should dissengage from Afganistan and Iraq, pull the troops out and save money and lives), however this is largely, if not solely, down to the work of the allied armed forces in the crucible of the middle east. We need to get the job done, quickly, pragmatically but thoroughly. Winning is not a word we can use, but not loosing is critical, doing half a job is the worst possible scenario leaving the people of the invaded country worse off, leaving the terrorist and would be terrorist with a meaningful grudge and stregthening the case against the west.
Over the next 10 years we will doubtless continue to wage this guerilla war on all fronts which will be costly but vital to homeland security. By all fronts I do of course mean also the political and diplomatic fronts as well as the military and security fronts. The availability of Oil and Water will add fuel to the fires of the wars alledged fought on ideological grounds. The potential for climate change to reduce the availability of food in areas of the world could lead to further issues. There are none so desperate as those who have nothing to loose and as the noose tightens around the world with the population continuing to grow and the production of food and availability of water not keeping pace there will be hordes of dispossesed, with nothing whatsoever to loose.
But what does this mean to us, sure these things may happen, but we need to keep a focus on doing what we do, opening new markets, spotting areas where we can deliver services and developing in the context of the world as we find it. There isn't an awful lot that we as companies or as individuals can contribute to this debate, we can vote and we can be vocal but beyond that our responsibility is to ensure that the fear of fear does not paralyse the business community.
At Simplicity we have understood the need to prepare for the worst but hope for the best and we provide services that allow our customers to continue to operate under any circumstances. By providing hosted voice and data services (Cloud Computing) which are available from anywhere in the world and which are backed up and mirrored to ensure the integrity of your information assets, we can ensure that irrespective of the conditions on the ground (Flu pandemic, terrorist attack, flood, fire, snow.......) your staff can work productively and effectively and you can continue to serve your customers with business as usual.
So look forward positively, hope for the best but prepare for the worst as we have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Get in touch to find out more
info@simplicityatwork.co.uk
0844 225 2555
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