{"id":9270,"date":"2021-01-16T10:00:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T10:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=150886"},"modified":"2021-01-16T10:00:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T10:00:05","slug":"the-far-rights-rise-within-armed-forces-is-a-global-threat-to-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/16\/the-far-rights-rise-within-armed-forces-is-a-global-threat-to-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"The far right\u2019s rise within armed forces is a global threat to democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Earlier this month, the world was shocked by the Capitol rioters\u2019 assault on US democracy. But more chilling still is that those who swore to protect the institutions of state may have been among the attackers.<\/p>\n

One US army captain is under investigation<\/a> for taking part in the 6 January rally that eventually led to the breach of the Capitol in Washington DC, while a former marine was reported<\/a> to be among the mob that descended on the building. Two off-duty police officers have been charged<\/a> in connection with the riots.<\/p>\n

In the days since the protest, the eight joint chiefs of staff, who head the four branches of the military \u2013 the army, navy, marines and air force \u2013have taken the unusual step of reminding<\/a> all serving members of the armed forces that their duty is to the constitution and the president-elect, Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, following global criticism of the FBI and police\u2019s slow reaction<\/a> to the riots, investigations into the event have accelerated<\/a>, with scores of civilian suspects being tracked in relation to murder, attempted murder, assault and sedition.<\/p>\n

Fears of bombs at the inauguration<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As protesters stormed the Capitol, improvised explosive devices, commonly known as pipe bombs, were discovered at the Republican National Committee building and the Democratic National Committee headquarters.<\/p>\n

Nobody has yet been arrested in connection with the devices, neither of which exploded, and there are fears that similar bombs may be used in efforts to disrupt Biden’s inauguration on 20 January. This, combined with reports of militias plotting to descend<\/a> on Washington DC, has led to a tightening of security.<\/p>\n

This week, as Congress acted to impeach<\/a> Donald Trump and the president urged his supporters to shun violence, the National Guard began to deploy 20,000 troops<\/a> to the US capital. At Trump\u2019s inauguration in 2016, there were about 8,000 troops. The Guard has been on 24-hour watch in the Capitol since last week\u2019s violence, with off-duty members seen napping in hallways and below the statue of George Washington.<\/p>\n

Since it is feared that potential rioters could be equipped with firearms, the army secretary, Ryan McCarthy, hasauthorise<\/a>d the arming of National Guard personnel. The move was originally opposed by the mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, but recent intelligence on the aims of some of the extreme militias rendered it necessary.<\/p>\n

Infiltration in the UK and Germany<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The rise of far-right views in national armed forces is not just an American problem. In 2019, it emerged that British paratroopers had used pictures of the UK’s then opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, for target practice. The Ministry of Defence condemned the behaviour, and the soldiers were disciplined, but not sacked<\/a>. <\/p>\n

One reason why the UK extreme right-wing group, National Action, was proscribed in 2016<\/a>, was an attempt by several of its key members to join the army. The UK security forces have been open about the need to counter the rise of the extreme right, which is estimated to account for a fifth of the workload of the country’s 10,000-plus counter-terror personnel.<\/p>\n

In Germany, the problem has been much worse, with the far and extreme right achieving serious penetration<\/a> of the security forces. A commercial risk consultancy group, Global Risk Insights, summarised<\/a> developments in a report released in October 2020:<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, the world was shocked by the Capitol rioters\u2019 assault on US democracy. But more chilling still is that those who swore to protect the institutions\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":308,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9270"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9271,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9270\/revisions\/9271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}