The enemy increaseth every day;

We, at the height, are ready to decline.

There is a tide in the affairs of men

Which taken at the flood leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries

On such a full sea are we now afloat,

An if we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

- William Shakespeare, in Julius Caesar

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the sad event of September 11, 2001; the day the history of the world was permanently altered with the bombing of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon, Head Quarters of the United States Department of Defence in Arlington County, Virginia by the Islamist militants resulting in the death of nearly 3000 citizens of the world, with the U.S. losing more of its nationals than any nations whose citizens were affected.

Ever since that incident, the security of the world has been imperilled such that the whole of humanity goes to bed now, half awake and half asleep, with fear of possible attacks from terrorists. These increasing threats from terrorists’ organisations, with alqaeda being in the lead (side by side the Talibans) of these feral creatures have taken their tolls on the global security budgets.

In fact, and as it’s already well known, the current campaign in Afghanistan led by the U.S. is directed at the Talibans who in more than one way are the perpetrators of terrorists acts in that country, and teaming with Alqaeda, albeit indirectly, have wrought immeasurable havoc to humanity.

The Iraq war, spear-headed by the U.S. which had been condemned in and around the world as a war of blame was in fact, a direct reaction to the ugly incident of the September 11th, 2001 by the Bush-Blair administrations. Despite the reasons adduced by these warmongers, the world has been left worse that it was in the pre-9/11. Terrorists’ activities have enjoyed a large swelling by some young Moslems because they see these so-called campaigns to root out terrorists as nothing, but a crusade against the Moslem world and their Faith, Islam. In fact, George Bush displaying his infantile enthusiasm in going to war with Saddam Hussain, did make that mistake of alluding to the war as a Crusade, before rushing to retract it after protests from the Arab world.

As terrorists activities rage on, on global scale, global security consciousness and concerted efforts in tackling these threats have to match the large scale global threats from terrorists. Thus, the level of global security awareness being envisaged by Vigilance can only be attained globally through its co-ordination by the UN using its good offices and relevant Agency to host the WORLD SAFETY AND SECURITY SUMMIT in 2013 or at a time to be determined by the United Nations and concerned world leaders.

It is to be noted that since the September 11th, 2001, the world has witnessed terror attacks of immense magnitude in Madrid, 3/11, 2004 leaving 191 people dead and 1, 800 wounded; London, 7/7, 2005, leaving 52 dead; Mombai, 26/11, 2008 leaving 174 dead, and almost countless in hotspots nations like Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt including Nigeria with Boko Haram holding sway. This is in addition to the many planned attacks that have been foiled over the years.

And what is more, it has been reported that over 3000 attacks have taken place since the 9/11.

Arguably the Third World War appears to have begun without mankind knowing it. But unlike the First and Second World wars of 1918, 1945 it will neither be fought on land, nor at sea, nor in the sky, nor on the mountain top, hills and valleys, but online. Although at data level, the cyber warfare has the potential of being more devastating than any known war in which mankind has been involved.

Implausible as this may be, let us pause and create a hypothetical scenario for a moment: Picture a situation where a big hospital is hacked into, not only data will be lost, but lives due to loss of data as Doctors and other medical specialists may not immediately be able to tell the prescription of one patients to another.

Scenario II: Picture a situation where the Pentagon is successfully hacked into, the military/security of the US will be compromised immeasurably with data totally wiped off or in a split second sold to an enemy nation.

ARGUMENT 2: Terrorists activities will no doubt be heightened in the coming years as the global economy heads down the slope. Consequently, vulnerable economies in Asia and Africa will be worst hit and employment figures will rise to 55% and above, and where such is the case, the security of many nations, and indeed that of the whole world will be imperilled and the ever strategising alqaeda, by extension the Taliban and other terrorists groups will cash in on these vulnerabilities and wreak maximum havoc by recruiting the dispossessed.

Let us hasten to warn that the world will be mistaken to think that the Arab spring will yield immediate democracy dividends as after the Spring, there shall come many hiccups, distresses and more political tremors that will make the conscientious world begin to doubt the revolutions.

In the light of the foregoing, we therefore invite world leaders and all conscientious humanity to give serious thought to this proposal.

It is now high time the world met to discuss the global security threats in all their ramifications; be it terrorisms (group, states and individuals), cyber security threats, CBRN, ecological security, food security, water security, social security, economic/financial security, religious security, etc.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1. To seek areas of cooperation in the fight against all forms of threats to global security.

2. To among other things, discuss the most effective and strategic ways of combating terrorism internationally.

3. To among other things, discuss how the global human community provide and engage the vulnerable educationally or in terms of skills acquisition so that terrorism recruiters do not take advantage of their precarious conditions by luring them into the dastardly enterprise through food and pecuniary benefits

4. To among other things, discuss the threats posed by hacktivists to online data information. Recent examples of hackings include WikiLeaks, Pentagon, IMF, US Senate website, etc.

5. To among other things, discuss and find lasting solutions to the transatlantic lack of co-ordination and uniformity in Airports check measures.

6. To amongst other things, discuss the various threats to eco-security such as food, water, climatic factors, drought, desertification, etc.

7. To among other things, discuss the threats posed by CRBN to global security

8. To again put the menace of nuclear proliferation in the front burner

9. To discuss among others, the global economic/financial security problems that have combined together to cripple world economy and engender global poverty.

10. To discuss the threats posed by piracy to global maritime and such other threats to transport security, aviation (passenger air travels), cargo (shipment of goods and services, etc).

11. To host a two-day international exhibition to showcase innovations and private initiatives in the fight against all forms of threats to global security.

12. To form the UN International Counter Terror Organisation comprising counter terror police and intelligence experts of all the nations of the world.