الرئيسية
* Commander says uprisings could fuel militancy in UK
* UK's biggest strategic risk is economic
* General says fight against Taliban on track
LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Britain's top soldier
warned on Wednesday that pro-democracy uprisings in the Middle
East could spawn militant Islamist activity in Britain, but said
the greatest threat was economic.
In his end-of-year analysis of the dangers facing Britain,
the chief of the defence staff, General David Richards, said the
Arab Spring could stir unrest in Britain's immigrant
communities.
"(There is) the risk that the Arab awakening leads to
fissures and internal conflict that could be exported, including
militant Islamism," Richards told a defence thinktank, the Royal
United Services Institute, in London.
"They have diasporas reaching back to this country, as does
Pakistan and other states struggling with instability".
A year after protests that led to the Arab Spring began,
moderate Islamist parties have taken control in Tunisia and
Morocco and look set to follow suit in Egypt, though militant
Islamists have so far failed to take advantage of the chaos.
However, Richards had no doubt where the chief threat lay.
"I am clear that the single biggest strategic risk
facing the UK today is economic rather than military ... This is
why the euro zone crisis is of such huge importance," Richards
said.
* UK's biggest strategic risk is economic
* General says fight against Taliban on track
LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Britain's top soldier
warned on Wednesday that pro-democracy uprisings in the Middle
East could spawn militant Islamist activity in Britain, but said
the greatest threat was economic.
In his end-of-year analysis of the dangers facing Britain,
the chief of the defence staff, General David Richards, said the
Arab Spring could stir unrest in Britain's immigrant
communities.
"(There is) the risk that the Arab awakening leads to
fissures and internal conflict that could be exported, including
militant Islamism," Richards told a defence thinktank, the Royal
United Services Institute, in London.
"They have diasporas reaching back to this country, as does
Pakistan and other states struggling with instability".
A year after protests that led to the Arab Spring began,
moderate Islamist parties have taken control in Tunisia and
Morocco and look set to follow suit in Egypt, though militant
Islamists have so far failed to take advantage of the chaos.
However, Richards had no doubt where the chief threat lay.
"I am clear that the single biggest strategic risk
facing the UK today is economic rather than military ... This is
why the euro zone crisis is of such huge importance," Richards
said.